Big Bend Community College, Moses Lake, Washington continues a successful project working with families that migrate into and from communities in central Washington using multiple technology delivery systems including on-line, live web casts, and inter-active television that empowers students and instructors. The intent of the Migrant Families and Distance Learning Opportunities (MFDLO) MEES project is to develop systems that engage migratory and seasonally employed families in continuously available learning opportunities. The project will ensure that students have access, with their instructors, in virtual classrooms in community libraries, school district labs, Internet cafes, adult basic skills labs, or their own homes, allowing students to access learning wherever they travel to work. Contact: Terri Kinzel, terryk@bigbend.edu

English Language of Cache Valley, Logan, Utah is a first-time MEES grantee, addressing the needs of the rapidly growing migrant population in the Bridgerland region in northern Utah and southern Idaho. Each year, the Program will serve about 100 eligible families. The Bridgerland MEES Family Literacy Project partners include: Bear River Head Start, Bridgerland Literacy, Cache County School District, Cache County Education Migrant Services, Centro de la Familia, Child Care Resource & Referral, English Language Center of Cache Valley (ELC Family Information & Resource Center), HOPE Institute, Logan County Schools, and the Utah State University Extension Service. Contact: Ronda Kingsford, elc@elc-cv.com

Multnomah County School District 1J, Migrant Family Success is a new project joining Portland, OR and five school districts to meet the needs of a migrant community expanding from the city to surrounding areas. This project will target 40 preschool children and their families. Early Childhood Education and primary grade services will be supported by Multnomah Educational Service District; the East County Migrant District; and Head Start. Adult education programs for English Language Acquisition, Adult Basic Education, and GED studies will be coordinated with Concordia University; Mt. Hood Community College; and Portland State University. The project also provides subject matter content under an agreement with the Mexican Consulate, which provides instructional materials. These courses represent achievement levels (below the level of Adult Basic Education) for mastery of core subject area content for middle schools (primaria) and high schools (secundaria). This approach allows students to "certify" their progress toward entry into higher-level adult basic education classes and attainment of a GED. Contact: Ray De Marco, ademarco@pps.k12.or.us

Morehouse Parish Office of Education, Bastrop, LA. Union, Morehouse, and West Carroll parishes in northern Louisiana depend strongly on agriculture for economic support. Migratory agricultural workers are an important part of the economic structures for this largely rural and poor area of northeast Louisiana. The parishes above have formed a consortium for the Title I, Part C, Migrant Education Program that helps migrant families with educational resources. The implementation of a Migrant Education Even Start program will enhance this network by adding a direct education component and additional resources to assist migrant families. Migrant Education Even Start in Northeast Louisiana plans that the existing MEP consortia will expand services through promotion of positive outcomes for project participants and service providers, including providing flexible scheduling for working families and transportation to services. The project will provide center-based instruction enhanced by home visits to project participants. Contact: Kaye Sharbono, sharbono@opsb.net

Boaz City Schools, Boaz, AL is in an agricultural area of Marshall County in northern Alabama. The first MEES project in Alabama is designed in collaboration with the Boaz City Board of Education, Northeast Alabama Adult Education Program and Snead State Community College. Adult education classes will be center-based, conducted several evenings a week; early childhood education will be provided in both center-based and in each family's home. BCSS Migrant Even Start will provide numerous peripheral services such as meals, transportation, field trips, health care. Contact: Jeana Ross, jross@boazk12.org

Lexington Public Schools, Lexington, NE will implement "Caminos de cambio" (Paths of change) with collaborators in the Nebraska State Department of Education; Head Start and Adult Education; and the support of the agribusiness partners Tyson Foods and Walking C Diary. Caminos de cambio will serve 40 families and as many 165 people in the project area. Children under 3 years will receive instruction in the Parents As Teachers structure; children at pre-school age will attend center-based ECE activities to prepare them for success in the early grades of public school (Pre-K-Grade 3). Adults will access services that align with their work schedules and stem from a personal educational plan for meeting their academic and language objectives. Contact: Greg Gaden, ggaden@esu10.org

Crane School District #13, Yuma, AZ will continue a project that was first funded in FY 2002. In the second cycle of the project, in years 5-8, the project will bring early childhood education, parent education, interactive literacy skills to 75 families. Crane has new partners, including Chicanos por la causa Head Start, the Western Arizona Council of Government, and the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station Child Care program, along with the Yuma Reading Council. Citizenship classes are also available. Contact: Mary Jo Smith, msmith@oc.craneschools.org

Tehama County School District, Red Bluff, CA has collaborated with Head Start, Chapman University, and Shasta College since 2002 to provide the full range of family literacy components in northern California. The project has developed a strong collaborative effort involving 16 agencies (more than $160,305 of in-kind match each year) that have agreed to reorganize their programs and develop new services to provide a full range of sustainable services for migrant families in Tehama County. Thirty families who traditionally migrate into and from the Tehama, Colusa, and Glenn counties will be served by strategies that provide family literacy services to families while they are in the project service area and also when they migrate outside the community. Contact: Kathy Villa, kvilla@tcde.tehama.k12.ca.us

Illinois Migrant Council, Chicago, IL will implement the Harvesting Opportunities for Literacy and Achievement (HOLA) Migrant Education Even Start (MEES) Project. Collaborating partners include three local education agencies (Cobden, Kankakee, and Mendota), the Illinois Migrant Education Program, Illinois Department of Human Services, Illinois Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Program, Illinois State Board of Education, Community Health Partnership of Illinois, and numerous community resource partners across project sites in Illinois, Texas, and Mexico. Because of their affiliation with these programs, the grant partners have identified 55 families that are willing to participate in all educational components of the project throughout the cycle of their migratory agricultural work. HOLA MEES will provide year-round services for families whose homes are located in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Guanajuato, Mexico as well as in Illinois. Contact: Brenda_Pessin@msn.com

Merced City Board of Education, Merced, CA intends to serve 30 families each year in collaboration with 10 educational and service agencies in Merced County. Project Aprender (Learning) builds upon existing services with inter-agency collaboration to meet the needs of its families. Although the county has previously operated State Even Start projects, this project will focus on the unique needs of migratory agricultural and fishing families. The project staff will participate in several key trainings that will support the MEES project including training from the University of Texas Center for the Improvement of Readiness of Children for Learning and Education (CIRCLE), National Center for Family literacy Foundations, Parents As Teachers, Desired Results, CASAS and Family Math and Reading. Contact: Lori Slaven, lslaven@mcsd.k12.ca.us