Single Father Enjoys "Dinner and Story" with His Children

Mr. B is a single father of 2 young children a boy age 3 and a girl age 5. He started coming to Centro San Jose for our ESL classes and comes every week with his children since we provide free childcare for families to reduce barriers to attendance. Since he has been coming for classes he is able to learn about other programs we have to offer and started coming to our “Dinner and Story” Nights. “Dinner and a Story” is a highly interactive program which provides families with a warm dinner and literacy-based activities designed to promote positive parent-child interaction and a life long love of reading. At “Dinner and a Story” families learn simple literacy strategies they can practice at home with their children to promote the development of literacy skills and at the end of the night, take a copy of the book home to build their child’s own home library.

Recently Mr. B is in the process of enrolling his three year old into Centro San Jose’s School Readiness Program for the fall. Since Mr. B already knows the classroom, program and teachers and really enjoys coming to Cento San Jose in the evenings, he said that he will not only appreciate the fact that the school readiness program will provide child care that enables him to work, but also enjoy coming to the preschool program on a regular basis. Mr. B demonstrates how with the support of the United Way of Greater New Haven, Centro San Jose is able to build parental engagement in their children’s education early in their children’s lives. Research shows that if parents are engaged in their child’s education early, they are more likely to remain engaged in their child’s education through out their entire academic career.

Mr. B is thankful that he came to Centro San Jose for ESL classes and was able to find other programs and services that meet his family’s needs. He is happy that the staff are welcoming and bilingual. He is starting to connect with other families who have children around the same age as his children and is now beginning to make his own connections to other fathers in our program.

The United Way funding allows us to provide "Dinner and Story Nights" to our families which teaches them simple literacy strategies they can practice at home with their children and promote literacy skills. At the end of the night each family takes a copy of the book home to build their child's own home library.

Shital Patel is the Director of Centro San Jose/Catholic Charities