Agency: Palm Beach County

[MIG 1001]

Bucket of Books was originally developed through a Migrant Even Start Grant in New York State. In searching for an innovative method for overcoming some of the obstacles that prevent families from participating in educational programs, this program was reviewed, and with modifications, has been implemented in Palm Beach County. The primary population currently being served through this program is economically disadvantaged families who reside in public housing projects. Since the original Bucket of Books operated primarily in Migrant camps, the program had to be modified in terms of methods for accessing families and providing services to enable home visitors to begin work.

Bucket of Books is a home based family education program designed to achieve the following objectives:

o Assist parents in developing positive parenting skills that increase the amount and quality of time parents interact with their children.

o Enhance the readiness level of preschool aged children who are unable to participate in programs such as Headstart or Pre-Kindergarten Intervention.

o Assist parents in achieving their own personal educational goals.

As implemented in Palm Beach County, the program's primary emphasis is on the development of positive parenting techniques and the readiness level of the preschool aged children, with adult basic and secondary education for the parent occurring in a more secondary mode. Adult literacy is not introduced until six to eight weeks into the program and only if the parent is comfortable with addressing his/her own educational needs.

The Bucket of Books program utilizes a series of family education packets as a means for delivering instruction to both parent and child. The packets are whole language packages of ideas that provide the parents with suggestions for enhancing parent-child interactions through printed material. Parents learn to use the materials and increase their own literacy skills while helping their preschool age children.

The objectives of the Family Education Packets are to:

o Provide a child's book that parents and children can read and enjoy together.

o Provide literacy activities based on the whole language approach for the child.

o Provide reading level appropriate literacy activities for parents.

o Provide parent education and child development information.

o Encourage a positive attitude toward reading.

Funding for Bucket of Books was obtained through the Palm Beach County Community Education Fund as well as the Adult Education Section 322 Grant. The Community Education Fund was established more than ten years ago for the express purpose of funding new and innovative programs through community schools.

AGENCY: Florida Human Resource Development: 1998-1999

[MIG 1002]

 Purpose of Project: The purpose of this project is to equip successful family literacy programs serving Florida's seasonal and migrant farm workers to expand services by offering English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction to their clients. The targeted agencies - Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA), Panhandle Area Education Consortium (PAEC) and East Coast Migrant Head Start (ECMHS) - will host at least 20 ESL workshops and three Train-the-Trainer workshops, enabling them to recruit and instruct adults not being served by existing programs and agencies.

Describe the Target Population and Document Needs of Population to be Served: Nationwide, the demand for ESL instruction is great, surpassing availability, but for seasonal and migrant farm workers the need is much greater. They remain one of the most educationally disadvantaged groups in the U.S. The majority of this population in Florida is Hispanic, with most coming from Mexico or Central America. Research shows that of Seasonal Agricultural Service workers who are U.S.-born Hispanic, 74% speak and 73% read English fluently. Of the Mexican-born workers, 7% speaks and 4% reads English fluently. Of the other Latin-born workers, only 1 % speaks and 1 % reads English fluently. The unique migrant lifestyle requires equally unique strategies of outreach and instruction if this group's educational needs are to be met. This project will provide for useful services to the target population - the migrant farmworker students.

Federal and/or State Goals and Priorities addressed in this Project: This project addresses the Primary State Goals of enabling "adults to acquire basic educational skills for literate functioning (e.g., English as a Second Language)", enabling "adults to read, write and speak English ... at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society," and expanding "existing programs... and educational services for adults." Also addressed are the National and State Priorities of meeting the educational needs of adults with limited English proficiency, "disadvantaged adults," and "minority adults," expanding "outreach activities to disadvantaged adults," and "training persons engaged in or preparing to engage in adult education, including educators of adults with limited English proficiency."

Indicators of Adult Education Program Quality Selected: This project will directly impact Indicators of Adult Education Program Quality V by expanding the scope of program services and increasing capacity, VII by providing instructional resources developed specifically for the targeted population and its unique needs, and IX by including ESL training in pre-service and in-service staff development. The project will indirectly impact Indicators I, II and IV as the training results in educational gains, educational outcomes and learner recruitment.

Describe how Funds will be used for Teacher Training: This project will use funds to train at least 200 Family Support Specialists and Outreach Workers in basic ESL theory and practice including approaches and techniques, developing lesson plans, using assessment instruments, selecting materials, and making referrals. Additionally, Education Coordinators will be equipped to offer in-service and pre-service ESL workshops through three regional Train-the-Trainer sessions. Through this project, existing family literacy programs statewide will expand their services to include ESL for adults.

Describe what makes this Project Innovative: Adult Education programs have traditionally found little success reaching seasonal and migrant farm workers. Classroom attendance for this population has been difficult if not impossible. At the same time, family literacy programs such as RCMA, PAEC and ECMHS have had great success not only in recruiting farm workers but also in gaining their trust and resulting participation. By equipping these agencies to provide quality ESL instruction to adults, positive increased in recruitment, educational gains, and educational outcomes will be realized.

Total Budget Requested: The objectives of this project can be reached with a budget of $38,100 providing Florida's migrant and seasonal LEP population statewide with new and previously unavailable opportunities for learning English.

Agency: Collier County

[MIG 1003]

Collier Counting Housing Authority's Gateway Project is a collaborative effort of Collier County Housing Authority, Collier County Public Schools, Collier County Public Library and Redlands Christian Migrant Association to address the literacy needs of the farmworkers who reside in Farmworkers Village (FWV), which provides affordable housing for approximately 2700 agricultural workers in Immokalee, Florida. This effort has resulted in the establishment of a Satellite Library; English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL), Adult Basic Education (ABE), GED and parenting classes; an afterschool literacy and tutoring program; computer programs and activities; and a family literacy program, all of which are housed in FWV's Education Building.

ESOL, ABE and GED classes are provided for adults, Monday -Thursday from 5 to 9 PM. Collier County's Immokalee Adult and Community Education Program provides the ESOL, ABE and GED curriculums (available upon request), materials, and staff. The Satellite Library Program is conducted Monday - Friday from 2:30 - 5 PM and Saturday, 8 AM - noon. Library activities include story times with follow-up activities, a "Reader's Club", computer activities, homework assistance, tutoring and parenting activities, materials and assistance. The librarian for the satellite Library is a FWV resident and a graduate of the GED program. The librarian and 2 assistants have been trained in library procedures and storytelling by the head librarian of the Immokalee Branch of the Collier County Public Library and are supervised by Adult and Community Education. The Satellite Library staff is funded under the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Adult and Community Education, Gateway Grant Program. Administrative costs, classroom facilities, building maintenance and utilities are provided by the Housing Authority and personnel applications, records, benefits and resulting paperwork are handled by Redlands Christian Migrant Association.

Entering its fourth year, the FWV Gateway Project has served 318 adults, awarded 36 GED diplomas, has over 500 children registered at the FWV Satellite Library, circulates an average of 650 books a month, provides afterschool activities for 30 to 40 children a day and has trained 8 middle school students as tutors and library helpers. Extensive commitment and cooperation among the agencies involved is a crucial element in establishing a successful program of this type. Record keeping must be accurate and kept up-to-date in order to maintain ongoing evaluation and program revision.

Agency: Gadsden County

[MIG 1004]

The objective of Gadsden Migrant Even Start is to better prepare children of migrant farmworkers for school and to help the family, as a whole, reach declared attainable goals for their education and employment needs. Often times migrant families find it difficult to educate themselves due to the transitory life pattern, less flexible educational programs, lack of educational background, cultural differences and/or low self esteem as well as lower expectations of self and the schools.

The objective of MES is to combat preconceived ideas of self and education; to facilitate a stronger communication between parents and schools through adult education and parenting; and to lower some of the barriers that prevent our families from partaking in educational opportunities in their community.

When a family is recruited or referred to us, we visit them in their home to conduct an interview of eligibility, set goals, and assess their individual needs, and more importantly their strengths. Classes are offered in four different locations and at all varied times including night as well as weekend classes. We discuss the classes and which are best for their purposes. If for some reason the student cannot come to one of the classes (i.e. distance, time, or lack of transportation), we try to set up individual study in the home with the instructor and the home visitor so that Adult Education, parenting, and parent-child time is administered at least once a week in a comfortable, familiar setting which is less threatening for the families.

The education of the children is furnished through RCMA, Head Start, Gadsden County Schools and/or PAEC during the summer months. The cooperation of these agencies is essential for the program implementation. A volunteer group, Amistades, provides an alternative class for adults unable to attend the center-based classes MES provides. LVA provides tutors for the adult education classes. Other agencies such as the Refuge House, Catholic Social Services, HRS, Health Clinic, Job Services, and the Pre-K interagency meetings provide support services for our families based on the family needs forms filled out at intake as well as observations made by home visitors and instructors.

All of these subtle, but important services are imperative to the goal of each family. The individualized attention, frequency of home visits, the home-based approach, and overall support of each family makes the Gadsden Migrant Even Start unique. We genuinely and actively participate in helping each family attain their specific goals.

Agency: Gadsden District Schools

[MIG 1005]

Goal: The goal of this project is to provide the most urgently needed survival English in a "user-friendly" format that is community-specific, bilingual, and has a rural, agricultural focus.

Background: Farm workers are one of the most educationally disadvantaged groups in the country. The majority of this population in Florida is Latino. The seasonal agricultural service workers may be U.S. Hispanic born, Mexican, or from other Latin areas. In some groups only one percent may speak and one percent may read English fluently. Migrant workers and their dependents encounter situations daily that demand some level of English language competency. Educators have traditionally had difficulty meeting that need. The demands of the migrant lifestyle and scarcity of materials with rural and agricultural themes hinder progress in migrant education. The Department of Adult, Vocational, and Community Education of Palm Beach County has developed an excellent Adult ESOL curriculum framework for use in Florida that, in part, identifies twelve adult ESOL competencies for survival English. It has been determined that the need exists for ready-to-use materials specifically addressing those competencies. Contact: Judd Butler (904) 574-5475