Education Initiative

 

The United Way of NWIL has provided children access to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Jo Daviess, Stephenson, and Carroll Counties. This book gifting program provides more than 2,600 books each month for registered children aged birth to 5. This program has shown to increase a child's vocabulary and better prepare them for kindergarten. Learn more about the program here.

Current funding from the UWNI is helping support the Early Childhood Consortium provide quality childcare at Amity & the YMCA Children's Center. Of the 119 slots funded, 67% of those spots are filled & the numbers are steadily climbing.

Additional funding was provided for Teaching Strategies Gold (TSG), a curriculum for Early Childhood, that ensures that children in our community are going into kindergarten have received the same curriculum. 627 children have been assessed so far this funding period, using a common curriculum and assessment tool, Teaching Strategies Gold (TSG), and nine early childhood centers are working together to provide coordinated results.

Of those 627 students, the following are meeting TSG standards for their age group:

  • 78% Social-Emotional Standards
  • 77% Language Standards
  • 91% Cognitive Standards
  • 81% Literacy (emergent reading) Standards
  • 65% Mathematic Standards 
Boys and Girls Club provided an academic enrichment program, Ticket to Read, during the school year and summer to help students learn and improve on reading and phonic skills.  The program had 500 students participate with over 90 participants attending 30 or more days.