News

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) faces closure due to lack of funding

Established locally nine years ago to serve the educational needs of low-income Spanish- and English-speaking families with preschool-age children, the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) Program is struggling to stay afloat during these difficult economic times. Without help, the HIPPY Program, which has provided services for more than 1,000 families in our community, will close it doors for the upcoming school year for lack of funding.

Program Coordinator Ana Maya explained, “In the past we have received funding from First 5 Santa Barbara County, but the largest source of funding to sustain our program has come from individual donors, charitable foundations and organizations. However, the financial landscape is changing, which places our services at risk. During these difficult economic times, we are required to find $100,000 to continue to provide this urgently needed intervention and support to families for 2010-2011. We currently have only $5,000 to continue the program. In order to offer the program with a start date of October of 2010, we are searching for funding pledges by August 2010.”

HIPPY curriculum is cognitively-based, focusing on language development, problem solving, pre-math concepts, auditory and visual discrimination skills. It is built on a foundation of parent, children, and educators. By working together, the outcome for these young learners is educational readiness skills to succeed in school.

Said Ana Maya, “Without HIPPY an opportunity for early intervention will be lost. This will have a significant impact not only on the future educational success for these children but also increase the need for later intervention at a higher cost to the community.”

Her concerns were echoed by First Five Santa Barbara, “For every dollar invested in high quality early care and education services, a return of $7 or more dollars can be gained through reductions in juvenile crime, teen pregnancies, welfare, and other social services.”

It is estimated that locally, each year about 200 children enter kindergarten without any preschool experience or interventions to ensure their success in school. Many of the children served in the HIPPY Program are at-risk youth. HIPPY is a program that helps level the playing field by providing engaging, high-quality early care and educational support that can positively impact a child’s chances for academic success.

For more information on the HIPPY Program, contact Ana Maya at (805) 637-5523 or email amaya@sbsdk12.org. Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters is part of the Santa Barbara School Districts’ Child Development Program.