Asociacion de Familias Hispanas de los Tarrytowns (“AFHT”) – Kids’ Club has given financial support to the Tarrytown school district’s AFHT Family Literacy Program to help develop vital literacy skills in underserved youth and their parents in our community. This program runs three times a week at John Paulding school, and provides opportunities for parents and children, working together, to become exposed to developmentally appropriate educational activities, as well as enriching social and cultural experiences.
Smart Babies – In 2013, Kids’ Club collaborated with the Tarrytown school district’s Asociacion de Familias Hispanas de los Tarrytowns (“AFHT”) and RSHM LIFE Center to develop and fund “Smart Babies”. This program brought new mothers and their infants together in a weekly class that emphasized reading and talking to one’s baby, preparing the infants for preschool and beyond, while also providing a support network for the mothers themselves. Smart Babies was designed to fill a gap in services for this crucial developmental stage. To view a short video of a Smart Babies class in action, please click below.
Summer Literacy Program for Rising First, Second and Third Graders – In 2015, Kids’ Club awarded a grant to the Foundation for the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns to pilot a summer literacy program. It was designed to assist local rising first grade students, not yet reading on grade level, maintain or improve their reading and writing skills over the summer, a time when many new readers are in jeopardy of a diminishment of those developing skills. The program, which met for six hours a week for three weeks, was comprised of 15 students and three TUFSD teachers. The lessons took place at John Paulding School, and included, among other things, refreshers on reading strategies, decoding words, writing organization and grammar. After the success of that pilot, Kids’ Club was happy to support an expanded Summer Literacy Program in 2016 and for many summers since. The program now includes rising second and third graders and is housed at W.L. Morse Elementary School.
Warner Library, “Listening to Learn”, “Warner is Wired for Homework” and “Warner is Wired for Learning” Programs – Kids’ Club’s funding of “Listening to Learn” enabled Warner Library to purchase audio books in an MP3/Playaway or CD format, so that children who do not have other access to iPods or listening devices could learn from audio books. Through support of the “Warner is Wired for Homework” and “Warner is Wired for Learning” initiatives, Kids’ Club underwrote the purchase of laptops and iPads for the library’s Children’s Room, enabling children who may not have such devices at home to use them at the library, thereby allowing underserved children to compete on a more level playing field with more affluent classmates. In 2020, Kids’ Club funded Warner’s replacement of Early Learning software, which is geared towards children ages 2-8 and features localized learning activities in the areas of math, geography, social studies, science, art and more.