Literacy Council Gulf Coast Inc

Last fiscal year (ending June 30, 2015) our Moms & Tots® program taught 1,160 moms and children in a collaborative, family-oriented classroom environment. The goal of this program is to empower moms by unlocking their communication skills, which enables them to interact with doctors, teachers, neighbors, and friends. Their toddlers (tots) are taught early learning skills to prepare them to enter school at or above grade level with their peers. Based on teacher surveys, observations, and assessments, 100% of our child graduates have achieved this goal and started school ready to learn. We track student performance through pre- and post-testing of parents and satisfaction surveys for moms to determine if they have achieved their individualized learning goals. Ninety nine percent of our moms have expressed strong satisfaction with the Moms & Tots program and their personalized education plan. The reason we are successful is because we empower moms through education to break the cycle of inherited intergenerational poverty with the self-esteem that comes from learning achievements and a sense of belonging with other moms. Our moms are impoverished and often face domestic violence and abuse in the home. The Moms & Tots program becomes a safe place and a community where these mothers can rise up to break the cycle of abuse and poverty. We know that this changes their lives, and it changes the future of our community and region through the ripple effect seen in children escaping poverty and intergenerational violence.