Nurturing Healthy Bodies and Brains
Nurturing Healthy Bodies and Brains:
Allen County Public Library’s Partnership with WIC |
About
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Pamela Martin-Díaz Manager, Shawnee Branch/Allen County Public Library Co-author, Early Literacy Storytimes @ your library®: Partnering with Caregivers for Success Email: pmartin@acpl.info |
Librarians from the Allen County Public Library hold sessions at WIC offices about how to help adults help young children develop their early literacy skills as they talk, read, write, sing, and play together.
ACPL Staff go to WIC sessions that have at least 10 adults signed up. Sessions are mandatory for WIC participants and reactions from parents have been, for the most part, positive. The skills that children need to be successful in later life are those that are taught by adults who interact with them when they talk, read, write, sing and play together. Together we can help adults feed children’s brains – literally and figuratively! |
How It Works
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WIC Nurtures Bodies
Poor nutrition during life in utero and a child’s early years causes a variety of significant problems including:
ACPL Nurtures Brains Research shows us that children:
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Target Audience: Low to Moderate Income Families participating in the WIC Program
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Why WIC?
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Active involvement of participants
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ACPL's model is based on family strengths:
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Partnerships with other organizations
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Partnership with WIC
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Assessments
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The program's next steps include:
This program is reproducible elsewhere as long as there are staff from the local WIC and library who are willing. |
Cultural Proficiency
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Rockin’ Rhymes: ACPL produced spiral bound book of nursery rhymes in English and Spanish
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Works through existing infrastructures: WIC Offices
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What is WIC?
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