Highlights: Publication of Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Children (HIPPY) USA

NEWS FROM HIPPY USA

highlights Fall 2020

HIPPY ALUMN Q&A FORMER "HIPPY" KID REFLECTS ON THE IMPACT THE PROGRAM HAS HAD ON HER LIFE

NEW PUBLISHED RESEARCH ON HIPPY IMPACT FLORIDA STATE DIRECTOR DR. TRACY PAYNE LEADS TEAM RESEARCH

NEW HIPPY AFFILIATES

HIPPY WELCOMES NEW SITES TO THE NETWORK

DIRECTOR SHARES HER STORY

COLORADO STATE DIRECTOR JACKIE CORDOVA HIGHLIGHTS HER PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH HIPPY

FAMILY Q & A BREANTON CHITWOOD FINDS HIPPY TO BE WHAT HIS SON MARSHALL NEEDED!

Staci Croom-Raley, HIPPY USA, National Executive Director

Staci Croom-Raley

Our organizational response to the overwhelming events during these past months more than proved that the HIPPY network operates with fortitude and commitment amid any storm. Such attributes help fuel change in the lives of those that embrace our mission, specifically families and communities. As an entire organization, we kept serving, even when some of our members experienced equal loss. It’s how we demonstrate that we are resilient by design. That is what we call #HIPPYWORKS, and it never stops. This idea encapsulates our words, actions, and efforts that create a more robust network that implements solutions that support parents and their children, no matter what.

Considering this, I want to recognize our 130 affiliates’ accomplishments, 11 of which joined our family since 2019, for the service and tenacity they continue to show for families.

First, home visitors, our superheroes, have been nothing short of amazing during this time.

They moved quickly from sitting with parents and caregivers at kitchen tables, teaching HIPPY lessons, to helping families jump on video and phone calls that ensured HIPPY home visiting never stopped. Home visitors safely dropped off weekly lessons to families, many that didn’t have access to the internet, computers, or tablets to ensure the HIPPY lessons continued. Those immediate responses are how we continue to respond to the crisis and remain constant for families during these unprecedented times.

I commend our coordinators and leaders across the country and throughout our network. Many people invested their talents and creativity to find ways to make HIPPY work in this new normal.

HIPPY leaders shared their ingenuity with thousands of practitioners within and beyond the HIPPY network. They deployed new guidance to staff while

adhering to national, state, and local officials’ safety guidelines.

Leaders across the network tirelessly worked with our national team to identify and create solutions, train and get trained, and provide assurances that reinforced that HIPPY “can-do” spirit.

Most importantly, our network stayed and continues to stay connected to the families we serve. We are empathizers and sounding boards about the pandemic’s devastation, other natural disasters, and personal challenges that can take a collective toll on a family. We are connections to community services, including pantries, transportation, and housing.

HIPPY staff was the only lifeline that delivered food, toiletries, and other basic needs directly to families in some communities. We served our communities and took care of each other, not knowing that more challenges were ahead.

The pandemic forced many of us to shelter in place. Still, the pain from issues surrounding race, equity, and inequality compelled many to band together, peacefully protest, and to dare to have tough conversations about how to move our nation forward. As the leader of HIPPY USA, I knew it was important that our organization

had a voice at the table for discussions on these topics and the impact all of this has on home visiting, early education, and family engagement. These were not easy discussions, sometimes too challenging for people to even speak. That’s how deep the wounds are for some, and others, it’s an uncertainty about what role to play in lessening that pain.

HIPPY USA offered resources for many of these challenges, yet we all know there’s more work to be done.

As you know, we are now entering our season of giving. When you read through this, or any, Highlights issue, you’ll always see the positive things that HIPPY does for families. As you read this current issue, my ask of you is to make a special note of how HIPPY makes people feel about their lives, their child’s future, and the possibilities ahead. That is what makes this work so unique and so special.

When you make your giving decision this year, please consider HIPPY. Your generosity lends toward our ability to remain resilient by design and forever committed to partnering with parents to prepare their children for success in school and beyond. important teacher.

LOVE AT FIRST LESSON HIPPY FAMILY Q&A

Breanton Chitwood of Wichita Falls, Texas, enrolled in the local HIPPY program with his son last November.

Since that time, he has been amazed at how fast and how well four-year-old Marshall has taken to the curriculum—not to mention the passion he has developed for learning. Breanton is excited to share how Marshall's love of learning is nurtured through his family’s participation in HIPPY!

Breanton Chitwood with his four-year- old son Marshall take part in Wichita Falls HIPPY. Along with being "HIPPY" Dad, Breanton just started a new career as a deputy sheriff.

How did you learn about HIPPY, and what made you want to become a HIPPY parent?

I learned about the program through my mom. She told me that a friend of hers has a child enrolled and that it could be a good opportunity for Marshall. Moms really are always right!

After meeting with her friend and learning more, I was impressed with HIPPY. I knew the curriculum would be perfect for teaching my son, and he would find it interesting.

In what ways has HIPPY benefited your child?

Every day, I can see how Marshall has grown in his confidence and skills in math, colors, and spelling, especially his name.

And he is reading HIPPY books. The program has helped me as a parent teach Marshall in a more structured way that ensures that he is learning, and HIPPY works for my schedule.

What do you like best about HIPPY? If it wasn't for HIPPY, I don't think that he would be this far along today. It takes time to work with your child, but the investment pays off in the end. It's hard to be a working parent and try to teach your kid. However, spending an hour each week with our HIPPY instructor, along with the material, it really boosts my confidence as a parent-teacher. Overall, the best thing to me about HIPPY is the support of the program.

From the learning packets to the instructor teaching me, everything is there.

What advice would you give to other HIPPY parents so their children can get the most out of the experience?

It's straightforward and simple to get the best out of this program. Sit down with your child, take your time, and enjoy it with them. The excitement and smiles on their faces will show just how much it means to them. And as a parent, it means a lot knowing that we are helping them get school ready.

Recent Study Showcases HIPPY Success in Florida

OUR IMPACT

Research continues to build the case for HIPPY's effectiveness

Throughout the HIPPY network, we know the impact HIPPY has on parents and their effectiveness as their children's first and most important teacher—we see the success stories every day. Research has demonstrated how well HIPPY works in preparing children for academic success in elementary school and beyond. Recently HIPPY added yet more evidence to its arsenal, thanks to researchers at the Florida HIPPY Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) Center at the University of South Florida.

Published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly this summer, Dr. Tracy Payne, in collaboration with colleagues Ruby Joseph, Svetlana Yampolskaya, and Angela Vatalaro, reported on the kindergarten readiness and first grade promotions of 730 students from districts across Tracy Payne, PhD. Florida who entered Kindergarten in the 2013-2014 academic year. Their Assistant Professor & Director Florida HIPPY Training & Technical research questions asked:

Assistance Center Department of Child & Family Studies College of Behavioral and Community Sciences University of South Florida

1. Does participating in a Florida HIPPY program increase the likelihood of children from low-income households passing the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener?

2. Does participating in a Florida HIPPY program increase the likelihood of children from low-income households being promoted to the first grade?

To answer those two questions, the researchers used data from the Florida Department of Education to create a matched group of children who would be compared to the former HIPPY participants on five outcomes: likelihood of reading success, early childhood observation assessment system, kindergarten readiness, first grade promotions, and school attendance. The comparison group was created using a statistical method that assigns a score to each child based on a host of demographic qualities such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, county and poverty-status, then matches former HIPPY participants with nonparticipants with a matching score.

The results confirm what we’ve known from previous studies – that HIPPY works. Children who take part in our learning model are well-prepared for school when they've completed the curriculum. This research also provides data we did not have before. Previous research has been conducted in other countries and states, but these are the first outcomes from Florida. HIPPY is a successful model of parent engagement and children’s school readiness, and best of all, its replicable in any community.

CON'T: RECENT STUDY SHOWCASES HIPPY SUCCESS IN FLORIDA In the last decade, the research reports focused on Latino populations while the study from Florida shows HIPPY is successful among a diverse population of families across twelve counties.

This is also the first of all HIPPY studies to quantify the effects of HIPPY on children. The researchers determined that former HIPPY participants were 1.67 times more likely than non-participants to test “Kindergarten Ready” and they were five times more likely to be promoted to the first grade. The research report disaggregates the findings by age, gender, and race-ethnicity.

"We've always known HIPPY was effective, but now we also know the degree to which it's effective, and we know that this is a program that can be replicated," Dr. Payne stated. "One of the biggest problems that we have in educational research, in general, but especially in early childhood interventions, is finding effects by successful interventions after they’ve been taken to scale. Typically, as soon as you try to scale it up or out or move it someplace else, it loses its effects. But that's not true with HIPPY; it appears that this program is effective wherever it goes."

"A child's success in school is not just about the childteacher relationship; it has to include the parent.

However, I don't know that schools have learned how to successfully involve parents in that process," Dr. Payne concludes. "HIPPY does that and teaches parents how to advocate for their children in meaningful ways and partner with teachers and schools as they have partnered with their home visitors."

The researchers from USF are now looking at the 3rd grade outcomes of these same children to answer the question, “Can the effects of HIPPY be detected four years after the intervention ended?” Following that analysis, Dr. Payne says they would like to move past children’s outcomes and dig into research focused on the other levels of outcomes by HIPPY or the mechanisms by which it works.

The national office is pleased to work with Dr. Payne and her staff at the Florida HIPPY T&TA Center where they serve as one of our university partners providing funding and T&TA to HIPPY programs across Florida.

The researchers determined that former HIPPY participants were 1.67 times more likely than non-participants to test “Kindergarten Ready” and they were five times more likely to be promoted to the first grade.

OUR ALUM Q&A

WHAT HIPPY TAUGHT ME HIPPY Alum Carolann Torres details her childhood experience with HIPPY and how it impacts her work today. Carolann is the director of development at the Providence Center in Philadelphia. She studied Community Planning and Development and Social Policy at City University of New York Hunter College. Carolann became passionate about serving Latino communities while doing community development work in East Harlem. She developed an interest in fundraising and development while working with a mental health and housing services provider for people experiencing homelessness. Carolann also has experience teaching and mentoring at Fordham University in the Bronx, where she developed and implemented a social justice curriculum for high school students.

At what age do you remember starting and working with HIPPY USA? I remember working with the HIPPY program, starting from when I was around three-years-old until I started kindergarten at five. When I was five, starting kindergarten was so easy because of my involvement with HIPPY. On the first day of school, I already knew how to read and write! I was able to hit the ground running, which definitely set me up for success in the years to come.

What overall impact has HIPPY had on your life?

The program instilled in me a love of learning that I carry with me to this day. I was such a curious kid, always asking questions and wanting to know more, and HIPPY encouraged me to do that. Also, HIPPY made it so that learning was a regular part of my relationship with my mom. I grew up trusting and relying on her, not only as a caregiver but also as a teacher.

What overall impact has HIPPY had on your life?

The program instilled in me a love of learning that I carry with me to this day. I was such a curious kid, always asking questions and wanting to know more, and HIPPY encouraged me to do that. Also, HIPPY made it so that learning was a regular part of my relationship with my mom. I grew up trusting and relying on her, not only as a caregiver but also as a teacher.

In what ways would you say HIPPY helped shape your relationship with your mother?

I was a pretty shy kid growing up, so I learned and engaged with the HIPPY program, with my mom as my primary teacher, which was very helpful. She was—and still is—a source of comfort and stability that I needed whenever I encountered something I didn’t know or understand.

What memory of HIPPY from your childhood stands out the most to you?

I remember our in-home visitor used to come to our house on Wednesdays. That was my favorite day of the week because she would bring all these fun, new materials. Once I started reading, I could never have enough books, so it was exciting to see what new books she had for me every week.

After I finished with the HIPPY program, my family and I would see her every so often around the neighborhood, and she was always genuinely interested in how I was doing in school. It felt good knowing that she was still invested in my success years later.

We are seeking HIPPY Alumni that are in high school and beyond. If you are or someone you know, please contact Shanta Nunn-Baro, Director of Development and Marketing at sbaro@hippyusa.org or 501-537-7726. Not only do we want to share their/your stories, but we are seeking to engage them/you in meaningful ways, including board representation opportunities.

Finding a Home at HIPPY

OUR NETWORK

HIPPY State Program Director Jackie Cordova

When Jackie Cordova, Program Director for HIPPY’s Colorado state office Parent Possible, immigrated to the United States from Mexico, she knew she wanted to continue her early childhood education career—but Jackie also knew she wanted a change. After working as a preschool teacher in Mexico, she was ready for a new career direction. And as soon as she learned about an opportunity as a HIPPY home visitor, she was intrigued.

“It was just great when I read it was working with the parents, supporting them to be the first and most important teacher for their children,” said Jackie. “After I had the first home visit, I said, ‘this is really what I want to do,’” Jackie shared.

Jackie Cordova Colorado State Program Director for HIPPY USA

"It was just compelling to meet families and develop a relationship with them first, then start teaching and coaching, offering support and encouragement as we moved along in the program. Also, it was reaffirming when I would go for a visit, and they were waiting for me the following week, ready for the activities to start,” she said.

Jackie stated that in the past, she had worked with children, but never directly with parents. "It was by engaging them at this level that truly connected me with my work and made me want to do more things with the program, You can say that this was my calling rather.”

After working as a home visitor for two years, Jackie was promoted to a site coordinator position, which she held for two years. Although she briefly left HIPPY to explore other career options, Jackie jumped at the chance to return when she heard about an opening for a HIPPY program director at Parent Possible, the state office for HIPPY. Since that time, she has been thriving in her role—contributing to an increase in HIPPY sites in the state and increasing the number of home visitors. Also, Parent Possible has implemented new projects, including HIPPY for Little Learners, HIPPY for Caregivers, and the Enhanced Home Visiting Project.

From a personal perspective, HIPPY has made an impact. Even though her son Benjamin, now seven, wasn't officially enrolled in a HIPPY program, she brought her work home and taught him the concepts, which sparked his love of learning and helped him excel in school. “

CON'T: FINDING A HOME AT HIPPY

“It was great to do all of the activities with him,” Jackie said. “When he started preschool and kindergarten, he was ready to learn, and he knew letters and numbers. It’s the story I also hear from other HIPPY parents.”

Also, being part of HIPPY helped Jackie during personal challenges that caused her to wonder if she should continue at HIPPY or return to Mexico. The support she received from colleagues kept her going as they emboldened her to stay and expressed confidence in her abilities.

I APPRECIATE HIPPY COLORADO AND HIPPY USA THAT BELIEVED IN ME AND MY POTENTIAL AS A LATINA WOMAN AND AS A PROFESSIONAL.

“It was the HIPPY family—and my family and friends from a distance— who encouraged me to focus on my strengths and become the best mother, friend, and professional that I can be,” Jackie said.

“Through effort and perseverance, I have been fortunate to have served HIPPY in different capacities — from home visitor to coordinator, supervisor, national trainer, and state director. I appreciate HIPPY Colorado and HIPPY USA that believed in me and my potential as a Latina woman and as a professional.”

This perseverance continues to pay off. Jackie was chosen to participate in the Buell Early Childhood Leadership Program, where she could lay the foundation toward earning a master’s degree and connect with other early childhood education professionals in the state. It’s also another opportunity to tell the HIPPY story. The Buell Early Childhood Leadership Program identifies, nurtures, and builds early childhood professionals' leadership capacity to strengthen and improve the programs and policies that support young children and their families in Colorado.

“It’s been great to develop those connections with other leaders in the state and to share what HIPPY is,” Jackie said. “Some of them didn’t know about home visitation nor our program so it’s been great, and which has resulted in interest to start HIPPY programs in their communities.”

To end on a great note, Jackie, is currently in graduate school at the University of Colorado - Denver where she will graduate next fall with a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education.

OUR IMPACT The information below is based on 2018-2019 data submitted by affiliates.

HIPPY USA NATIONAL OFFICE STACI CROOM-RALEY, JD, MS NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MATTHEW BELLEW DIRECTOR OF AFFILIATE SUPPORT AND DATA SHANI GREEN ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT CHRISTA HARING-BIEL, Ph.D DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH SHANTA NUNN-BARO DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING TIFFANY THOMAS, MA SENIOR DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS CATRIONA MCDONALD LINCHPIN STRATEGIES WASHINGTON DC KENYA MCULLUM PUBLIC RELATIONS SAN FRANCISCO, CA PO BOX 1034 LITTLE ROCK, AR 72203 501.537.7726 info@HIPPYUSA.org HIPPYUSA.org

BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR Verelyn Gibbs Watson Watson Works, LLC VICE CHAIR Laura Peracchio, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin TREASURER Susan Storer Macy’s, Inc., Retired SECRETARY Victoria Kern San Diego State University Research Foundation MEMBER-AT-LARGE John D. Gonzalez JDG Associates, Inc. Andre Goode Covenant House of California-Bay Area Jeffrey Keilson Advocates, Inc. Dora Lipper The Lunch Project Hong Van Pham Researcher and Volunteer Richard Rubenstein Plymouth Spring Company Anita Stoller Apple, Inc., Retired Francesca Scheiber Ph.D. Candidate, University of Iowa

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR Robin Frank Advocate and Volunteer

Marjorie Margolies Board Strategic Outreach Advisor Mayer Brown LLP HIPPY Milwaukee Leroy Butler HIPPY Alumni Carla Mowell Field Representative HIPPY USA, National Trainer Suzanne Plastrik National Council of Jewish Women Representative Miriam Westheimer, Ed.D. HIPPY International

TRUSTEES EMERITI Hillary Rodham Clinton New York, NY Senator Nan Rich Weston, FL Dr. Ruth Westheimer New York, NY