United Way of Puerto Rico targets preschool education
As donations to charities and nonprofits fall off due to the recession, Puerto Rico’s largest fundraising organization plans to target preschool education to curb the increasing costs of tending to social ills.
“There is not enough money to continue to give to shelters for abused children and women. So we need to avoid having children and women who are abused. That’s called prevention,” United Way of Puerto Rico President Samuel González said in an interview with the Daily Sun.
This prevention must start with the education given to preschool children, which he said will set the tone for their future development.
To this end, United Way of Puerto Rico, which provides grants to 144 local charities and nonprofits, is creating a local version of the “Born Learning” public service campaign launched on the U.S. mainland by the United Way of America, with which the local nonprofit organization is affiliated.
“A child who doesn’t master reading and writing by the fourth grade will likely not be functional when reaching adulthood,” said González, who gave a rundown of statistics showing the crisis in local education: One of every 10 children doesn’t pass first grade, 40 percent don’t graduate from high school and 70 percent of those who enter college don’t graduate.
“By fourth grade, these children have become emotional deserters from schools,” he said, noting that parents and children must be provided “the tools necessary to break this vicious cycle,” which leads to all types of social ills, including the jailing of the island’s youth.
He said United Way of Puerto Rico will launch a media campaign next year that will urge parents to use their daily experiences as opportunities to teach their preschool children.
“Our society — in which both parents work — forces mothers to leave their children in daycare centers. Many of these children reach kindergarten without knowing how to count or the names of colors, and they get left back in first grade,” he said, noting that the thrust of the public service campaign will be to urge parents to make a daily chore, such as a trip to the supermarket, an educational experience.
“The mother should take a moment to point out to her child an orange’s color and its round shape,” he said.
The organization is recruiting 38 community and professional leaders to assume the stewardship of the “Born Learning” campaign.
United Way has already begun a related program to improve the quality of the island’s daycare centers by providing training to teachers and caregivers. Some 474 of them have “graduated” from the seven-part workshops, said González, who noted that the program will cost $330,000 in the next three years.
The program, which he said is in its third phase, is being funded by a grant from the Angel Ramos Foundation.
“Daycare centers are not adequately supervised here. We know there are 770 registered daycare centers [on the island], but there could be three times as many unlicensed daycare centers, in which the owner sets up four cribs in her garage,” he said.
While the government requires permits issued by the Permits and Regulations Administration and the Fire Department, as well as health and good conduct certifications, to open daycare centers, González said such permits don’t ensure that daycare centers “have the necessary learning tools, and don’t just have the children watch television.”
He said the initiative is a long-term project that could bear fruit in 10 or 15 years.
United Way of Puerto Rico allocated 23 percent of the $10.3 million it distributed last year to organizations dedicated to education and “character formation.” Some 22 percent were given to homes and shelters; 21 percent were given to health organizations; 21 percent were provided for family community services; and the other 13 percent was allotted for “basic needs.”
As a result of the fall in donors — who the organization calls “social investors” — and their contributions, the nonprofit will cut disbursements to $9.1 million this year.
“We seek to change the fundraising model we have had for the past 40 years,” said González, who noted that the nonprofit will launch more non-traditional “cross-branding” campaigns, such as the one with Texaco, in which it will donate a half cent to community groups for every gallon purchased.
He said that another opportunity to mitigate fundraising shortages is in the $2.16 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and commonwealth stimulus funding for the social sector.
ARRA is providing $1.16 million in violence prevention grants to 16 organizations, he said. Another program, managed by the commonwealth Energy Affairs Administration, would provide $1 million in ARRA money to nonprofits to promote energy efficiency measures. He said United Way of Puerto Rico has been appointed as the liaison between the federal government and the nonprofits.
The commonwealth Housing Financing Authority has also set up a program with local stimulus funding that would allow the automatic forgiveness of a $10,000 loan for down payments if the homebuyer provides 50 hours of community service within the year. The down payment must be paid in 10 years.
“There is not enough money to continue to give to shelters for abused children and women. So we need to avoid having children and women who are abused. That’s called prevention,” United Way of Puerto Rico President Samuel González said in an interview with the Daily Sun.
This prevention must start with the education given to preschool children, which he said will set the tone for their future development.
To this end, United Way of Puerto Rico, which provides grants to 144 local charities and nonprofits, is creating a local version of the “Born Learning” public service campaign launched on the U.S. mainland by the United Way of America, with which the local nonprofit organization is affiliated.
“A child who doesn’t master reading and writing by the fourth grade will likely not be functional when reaching adulthood,” said González, who gave a rundown of statistics showing the crisis in local education: One of every 10 children doesn’t pass first grade, 40 percent don’t graduate from high school and 70 percent of those who enter college don’t graduate.
“By fourth grade, these children have become emotional deserters from schools,” he said, noting that parents and children must be provided “the tools necessary to break this vicious cycle,” which leads to all types of social ills, including the jailing of the island’s youth.
He said United Way of Puerto Rico will launch a media campaign next year that will urge parents to use their daily experiences as opportunities to teach their preschool children.
“Our society — in which both parents work — forces mothers to leave their children in daycare centers. Many of these children reach kindergarten without knowing how to count or the names of colors, and they get left back in first grade,” he said, noting that the thrust of the public service campaign will be to urge parents to make a daily chore, such as a trip to the supermarket, an educational experience.
“The mother should take a moment to point out to her child an orange’s color and its round shape,” he said.
The organization is recruiting 38 community and professional leaders to assume the stewardship of the “Born Learning” campaign.
United Way has already begun a related program to improve the quality of the island’s daycare centers by providing training to teachers and caregivers. Some 474 of them have “graduated” from the seven-part workshops, said González, who noted that the program will cost $330,000 in the next three years.
The program, which he said is in its third phase, is being funded by a grant from the Angel Ramos Foundation.
“Daycare centers are not adequately supervised here. We know there are 770 registered daycare centers [on the island], but there could be three times as many unlicensed daycare centers, in which the owner sets up four cribs in her garage,” he said.
While the government requires permits issued by the Permits and Regulations Administration and the Fire Department, as well as health and good conduct certifications, to open daycare centers, González said such permits don’t ensure that daycare centers “have the necessary learning tools, and don’t just have the children watch television.”
He said the initiative is a long-term project that could bear fruit in 10 or 15 years.
United Way of Puerto Rico allocated 23 percent of the $10.3 million it distributed last year to organizations dedicated to education and “character formation.” Some 22 percent were given to homes and shelters; 21 percent were given to health organizations; 21 percent were provided for family community services; and the other 13 percent was allotted for “basic needs.”
As a result of the fall in donors — who the organization calls “social investors” — and their contributions, the nonprofit will cut disbursements to $9.1 million this year.
“We seek to change the fundraising model we have had for the past 40 years,” said González, who noted that the nonprofit will launch more non-traditional “cross-branding” campaigns, such as the one with Texaco, in which it will donate a half cent to community groups for every gallon purchased.
He said that another opportunity to mitigate fundraising shortages is in the $2.16 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and commonwealth stimulus funding for the social sector.
ARRA is providing $1.16 million in violence prevention grants to 16 organizations, he said. Another program, managed by the commonwealth Energy Affairs Administration, would provide $1 million in ARRA money to nonprofits to promote energy efficiency measures. He said United Way of Puerto Rico has been appointed as the liaison between the federal government and the nonprofits.
The commonwealth Housing Financing Authority has also set up a program with local stimulus funding that would allow the automatic forgiveness of a $10,000 loan for down payments if the homebuyer provides 50 hours of community service within the year. The down payment must be paid in 10 years.