Sunday, November 27, 2022 | Special Advertising Section 1 R 20 Opportunities and relationships for young families that last a lifetime At Atlantic Street Center, we have been pivoting to meet the needs of the community since 1912. Through our four programming areas — behavioral health, family support, gender-based violence and early learning —Atlantic Street Center stays consistent in supporting children, youth and families in King and North Pierce Counties. Our country is facing an education crisis. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 4th and 8th graders are showing a decline in reading and mathematics since the onset of the pandemic, with the more significant decline among Black and Hispanic children than white students. Locally, how can our community meet the needs of not just these grades, but all school-aged children? For Atlantic Street Center, this means investing in children before they even enter school. From there, we foster relationships with families to help them feel secure in engaging with our other resources. It starts with our Early Learning Program. In a collaboration with the national organization ParentChild+, our Early Learning Program has an initiative called One-ToOne that pairs our Early Learning Specialists with a child that is 18-34 months old and their family. With two weekly visits over the course of two years, Specialists bring free books and toys to that child, helping them develop early literacy and school readiness. These visits also help the adults in the home to engage with their child’s educational development long-term. As with all the families we serve, these children and their parents/guardians are no- and low-income. Already, inequities in our community mean many of these children start preschool academically behind their more affluent peers. As these socioeconomic gaps continue to widen, more children will get lost between the cracks unless we push ourselves to help now. “Parents and caregivers learn and understand Youth participants take a financial literacy class in Atlantic Street Center’s annual Summer Academy, a resource through the Youth Development & Education Support Program. The financial literacy class is part of a partnership with HomeStreet Bank. Atlantic Street Center helps families and communities raise healthy, successful children and youth through direct services and advocacy for social justice and equity. Go to atlanticstreetcenter. org/donate or call 206329-2050 to make a donation this holiday season. that they are their child’s first teacher,” says Diesha Rogers, Director of Early Learning. “Our participants and their children who complete the program often return for our other services. It shows how impactful Atlantic Street Center, and our staff are.” One such example of that community is the trust one mother had in our staff. Her children had completed the One-toOne program, but this mother felt comfortable enough to reach out to her Early Learning Specialist on a separate matter. That was how our staff member learned that this mother and her children had recently escaped a domestic violence situation. The mother then asked the staff member to accompany her to the courthouse: she wanted to change her children’s last name to hers. A terrifying moment for a young woman amidst all she had been through, but her trust in Atlantic Street Center made it possible for our staff member to accompany her. Now her children bear her last name, and she is making her way through college. “Early Learning support is such a powerful way to invest in the academic PROVIDED BY ATLANTIC STREET CENTER A family celebrates their recent scholar for completing the Early Learning ParentChild+ Program at Atlantic Street Center. success of preschool-aged children,” says Executive Director Dr. Pela Terry. “The secret to that success: supporting parents and families with diverse, culturally-relevant tools. This really helps local families become a child’s first, best teacher in the home, while giving children the needed jumpstart for school development that helps them successfully reach their learning milestones for years to come.” In addition to supporting our wide array of services, the gift you give now ensures that Atlantic Street Center combats this educational crisis right away starting in the home. The pandemic has stunted our children’s growth academically, but we have an opportunity to show the rest of the country a way to advocate for kids. By investing in community, we can reach new heights. For the past 112 years, Atlantic Street Center has been uplifting families in diverse ways. Your donations, social media follows, and volunteerism will help us expand our already proven programs so that we can reach more families that need us.
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