Disaster Recovery Grants Project
A Program of The Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy
Final Report, September 2009
Lyford Consolidated ISD
The objectives of this project, as written, were:
- to replace the roof and surfacing in the infant playground area that had not been repaired after being damaged by the storm.
- to replace classroom furniture, developmentally appropriate toys and books that were destroyed.
During the storm, Lyford Even Start Program sustained significant damage to two classrooms; the roof to two of their classrooms, playground area, and all furnishings and supplies within the classrooms were lost. Within the Lyford ISD service area, the storm only exacerbated a critical financial situation for the community. Many families left the area and have not returned. They have yet to recover their enrollment from the days before the storm; however, the award helped replace all the equipment, children’s books, furnishings, and playground area. The Even Start director says the program would not have been able to reopen its doors without the assistance provided by the Barbara Bush award.
Narrative Project Success
The purpose of the Lyford ISD Even Start Family Literacy Project is to provide family literacy opportunities to families in their community, therefore creating opportunities for them to acquire a better quality of life. Even Start offers adult education, early childhood education, parent education, work literacy education, and facilitates parent and child activities. This comprehensive model is a one stop educational service provider that is very much needed in a community with one of the highest unemployment rates in the State of Texas. The community of Lyford is a rural agricultural area with limited jobs and high poverty. Lyford Even Start has collaborated with other agencies to provide educational services to the community. Region One Education Service Center has been the area’s adult education provider for the past nine years. Their collaboration has been instrumental in the success of the program. When Hurricane Dolly hit South Texas, it compromised the operation of the Lyford Even Start Program. Through the support of Lyford ISD and the Barbara Bush Texas Fund Disaster Recovery Grant, they were able to continue their objectives with limited service interruption.
Lyford Even Start serves families most in need of educational services. Even Start utilizes a holistic approach to services in order to best serve families at risk. The early childhood education component is an area in which the program has been able to identify attained educational growth. Lyford Even Start’s Preschool classroom utilizes a C.I.R.C.L.E. School Ready instructional approach. This is foremost a cognitive method nurturing the child’s self- esteem, culture and values, while the instructional materials are research proven curricula that address the educational needs of the children. The assistance received by Lyford from the Barbara Bush Texas Fund gave the program the opportunity to prepare the children for a successful transition to the next level of their education.
The funding under this grant afforded the opportunity to continue the adult education services that empowered participating parents to advocate for themselves and set high educational and employment goals. The Lyford community was not only affected by the hurricane this past year, but the economy also created many hardships. Before this year, it was very common for the mothers to attend class and take care of the children while the fathers worked. But as the men in the family were losing their jobs or working reduced hours, the mothers started seeking jobs cleaning houses, cooking, taking care of children, or any other job they could find. Lyford ISD maintenance department hired some of the mothers as custodians.
One of the adult education students had a teaching degree obtained in Mexico. She was enrolled in the Lyford Pre-GED/GED class, preparing for the GED test and working on her English language skills. Her need to help support her family led her to apply with the district for a custodian position. As she prepared her application, she asked the adult education teacher for a reference letter. The teacher advised her to explore the possibility of applying to be a substitute teacher in the bilingual classrooms instead. Upon calling the human resource department and discovering that substitute teaching was indeed an option, the mother began working as a substitute while continuing to prepare for her GED test, earning a higher pay rate than she would have in a custodial job.
The Lyford Even Start program also provides services to teen parents enrolled in the area’s only high school. Lyford ISD is committed to giving teen parents that opportunity to become productive and self-sufficient members of the community. Teen parents are able to enroll their children in the child development center, receive parenting instruction, social work services and transportation services. The teen parents spend time every day at the daycare with the childcare providers and are able to observe ways they can interact positively with their children. The Disaster Recovery Grant was instrumental in helping teen parents continue with their high school education. Lack of childcare is a common reason that teen parents drop out of high school. Under the Parent Encouragement Program (life skills grant for student parents), teen parents’ children can only attend a licensed daycare. The Barbara Bush grant allowed the program to repair the infant playground, without which the program would have been at risk of losing that licensed daycare status.
The Barbara Bush Disaster Recovery Grant helped Lyford complete the needed repairs that allowed them to provide the services that the program requires. Even Start impacts many lives in different ways and without the assistance of this grant award, some program objectives could not have been accomplished.
Lyford area baby “learning to read” in a newly refurbished classroom
Lyford area toddlers, future doctors in Texas, learning while playing with new supplies provided by this grant.
A teacher meets for a reading class with a group of her participants in a completely rebuilt classroom in the toddler area of the Lyford program where materials, cubes in the background, shelving units, and carpet were purchased thanks to the generosity of the Disaster Recovery Grant.
