A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Parents First
NashvilleREAD, Inc.

NashvilleREAD's mission is to coordinate and enhance new and existing initiatives to provide adult, workplace, and family-based education. The agency was founded in 1991 following a year- long local and national study by a citizen's Task Force concerned about literacy in the Nashville area and about the lack of innovation and coordination of available literacy services. NashvilleREAD has developed linkages with public and private agencies in the community and is the lead agency or a major partner in several literacy and parent training and information projects supported by federal, State, local, and corporate funds.

NashvilleREAD's Parents First project is being conducted in cooperation with the Nashville Metropolitan Public Schools, the United Way of Middle Tennessee, the local Head Start program and more than a dozen secondary partners. Parents First is serving families in metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County as well as the four rural middle Tennessee counties of Robertson, Dickson, Wilson, and Rutherford.

Although project activities are of use to all parents, the project targets parents who are severely economically and educationally disadvantaged, minority parents, and parents with limited English speaking ability, primarily Laotians, Kurds, Vietnamese and Hispanics.

Consistent with its mission and strength, NashvilleREAD views continuous assessment of customer needs, coordination of existing services, evaluation of project activities, and dissemination of project results as major objectives of the project. In addition, the Parent Center will:

1. Disseminate Information
   The project is providing parents with information and materials that enhance their efforts to teach and nuture their children. The project is developing multiple strategies to disseminate information and facilitate parent-to-parent communication such as computer networks, parent forums, lending libraries, a statewide 1-800 HELP LINE, newspaper articles, and parenting fairs.

2. Provide Training and Support
   The project is providing training and support for parents that increases their parenting skills as well as trains parents to provide project services such as home-based learning activities and the HELP LINE. Also, the Center provides training for educational personnel in Head Start, Family Literacy, and compensatory education programs.

3. Involve Parents Extensively
   The project is involving parents extensively in the planning and implementation of information, assistance, and decisionmaking activities.

Primary Partners:

• NashvilleREAD
  • Families for Learning Program
• Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
• United Way of Middle Tennessee
  • Success by 6 Program
• Metropolitan Action Commission
  • Head Start Program

Director:
Debra Everly
NashvilleRead
421 Great Circle Road
Suite 104
Nashville, TN 37228
Telephone: (615) 255-4982
Fax: (615) 255-4783
Award: $199,231
Affiliation: PAT

-###-

[Black Hills Special Services Foundation]

[Mental Health Association of Texas]