When we share responsibility for common goals, we can achieve great things. Pro Action has a strong track record for engaging in meaningful partnerships to build the community we envision. Whether as a leader or a participant, Pro Action works to actively integrate services within the agency and with external partners in order to produce optimal benefits for and with our customers and the community.
Kids on Track Steuben is the Implementation Partnership in Steuben County advancing the goals of United Way of the Southern Tier’s Kids On Track initiative. The overarching goals of Kids On Track include school readiness, grade-level academic performance at 3rd grade, and high school completion. To advance these goals, the Kids On Track Implementation Partnership coordinates the efforts of multiple programs to achieve outcomes in the areas of child development and safe, nurturing environments for children. We have a Community of Practice that meets quarterly to oversee the advancement of our key strategies to achieve these outcomes: universal home visiting, early detection and treatment for delays, creating contexts for healthy child development in all settings where children spend time, developing school-based family resource centers, adopting consistent behavior management approaches across settings, and spreading practices for effective teaching and learning across settings. Work done in Communities of Practice last year have yielded the following results:
Helpful Forms:
Pro Action is the lead agency for Head Start, serving Steuben and Yates Counties. In this role, Pro Action partners with several area school districts to deliver Universal Prekindergarten (UPK). Local school districts receive funding from New York State Department of Education to support UPK services. Local school districts ensure UPK services through a variety of classroom settings, including those operated directly by the school district and those operated by community partners. Pro Action Head Start is one of these community partners. In several local school districts, we provide Universal Prekindergarten programming in center-based classroom settings, five days per week throughout the school calendar year.
Pro Action works in close partnership with the Steuben County Department of Social Services and Office for the Aging to deliver several services including Child Care Subsidy, HEAP, One Stop Career Centers, Senior Nutrition, T.A.S.A., and Wheels for Work.
Pro Action administers the Yates County Office for Aging in close partnership with the County. Through this very successful partnership, Pro Action offers a range of services for seniors including information and referral services, health and wellness services, and in-home services
Our community is facing an URGENT NEED to expand child care to meet the need for children and youth to attend virtual classes away from school this school year, while their parents might still need to go to work. We surveyed 352 parents throughout the county specifically about child care this fall and found that only a little more than half have a plan in place for child care for September, as of August 24th (View the summary of our survey results HERE). Of the parents who wanted more information to help them make plans, the most frequently selected information wanted was about child care on days their child is virtually learning outside of the school building.
It is crucially important for both children and older youth to have supervised, safe environments where they can learn when their parents are at work. Plus, it is essential for student learning that they attend classes every day, and have support from an adult to be fully engaged when learning remotely. Our child care and youth programs aren’t currently set up to serve the high volume of young people who now need their services. Capacity must expand to provide relief for families worried about how to care for their children while they are not in school buildings.
WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT:
Pro Action Kids On Track with key partner Child Care Aware® of Steuben and Schuyler is coordinating efforts in Steuben County as follows:
WE NEED EVERYONE’S HELP!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS URGENT NEED!
There was already a shortage of child care in our communities before the pandemic. The closing and partial closing of schools for this length of time is something nobody could have predicted. We do need our whole community to pull together to support children and families during this highly unusual time. THANK YOU FOR STEPPING UP!
View the summary of our survey results HERE.
Questions can be directed to:
Margie Lawlor, Pro Action
lawlorm@proactioninc.org
607-776-2125 x312
Community Action Angels (formerly CHAMP)
Contact: Joe Golden (goldenj@proactioninc.org)
School Districts
Head Start and Universal PreK
Steuben County
Child Care Subsidy, HEAP, Home Delivered Meals, T.A.S.A.
Workforce NY
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Effective 9/21/20 Pro Action’s main office on 117 E Steuben St. will be open for walk-in assistance. Due to social distance requirements appointments are still preferred to ensure you can be assisted. Masks are required to be worn while in Pro Action facilities. In addition, customers will be required to complete a COVID-19 Self Certification and a waiver for in person services. Those forms will be provided to you prior to your appointment or before you receive a service at our facility.
Customers can continue to receive Pro Action services by phone or electronically. We are encouraging customers to make appointments and/or have their needs met by phone or other electronic means.
If you would like to make an appointment, please call the appropriate number below.
*Walk-in assistance is not available between12:00-12:30 pm each day.
