UMCHS Male Involvement


*Home* Programs Trainings Youth Involvement Contact Us Links	Male Involvement "It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." Fredrick Douglas
	The focus of Male Involvement at UMCHS is to increase male and family involvement through leadership training, parenting classes, literacy involvement and other activities men enjoy. Goals
		Head Start will support and encourage men and families to be involved in parent center meetings, Policy Council and other Head Start programs.
		Head Start will develop and implement strategies to help fathers face the challenges of family, work and community.
		Head Start will recognize and celebrate different cultural heritage within the family.
		Head Start will help increase the leadership skills and emphasize the importance of a positive male role model within the home.
		To Increase collaboration and coordination of other community agencies that focus around male and family involvement.
		To increase the amount of time fathers are engaged with their children around literacy and other educational activity.
	Programs Family Reading Night Family Reading Night is a collaboration of Umatilla-Morrow County Head Start (UMCHS) and the Elementary schools within area. The schools invite Head Start and Early Head Start families to participate in Family Reading Night while UMCHS provides books for the pre-school youth that attend. Seven Elementary schools work with UMCHS on this joint effort. The majority of the Family Reading Nights take place once a month. During Family Reading Nights, a nutrition snack or dinner is usually provided for families to enjoy. After refreshments, families take time to read to each other. Besides reading, certain schools offer other activities such as puppet shows, arts and crafts booths, story tellers and family board games. Other schools have theme nights were children and parents dressed for the theme such as pajama night, camping night and cowboy night. The Family Reading Nights are quite successful and lot of men attended these reading events. Before UMCHS was involved in Family Reading Night, schools only had enough books allocated for elementary students. Now that UMCHS is involved, all the children received a free book and the pre-school youth left with a smile! Pinewood Derby Cub Scouts and UMCHS collaborated for a Pinewood Derby race in the Hermiston area. The Pinewood Derby is an event where father and child carve a block a wood into a car, decorate it, and then race it! Children and fathers constructed cars last December and raced them in late January. Ribbons were given to each Head Start child and other ribbons were awarded for the most unique, best craftsmanship and fastest car. This year UMCHS plans on expanding the derby in the Pendleton and Milton-Freewater area as well. Soccer The men and families at the Umatilla and Morrow County Head Centers strongly desired a sporting activity for their children. As a result, UMCHS wanted to host a soccer tournament. The Parks and Recreation Department along with the American Youth Soccer Association helped UMCHS with the tournament. The games occurred on Saturdays last April and May. Sixteen Head Start classrooms throughout both counties participated in the soccer jamboree. Teams consisted of both boys and girls ages 3 - 5. Individual ribbons and team trophies were awarded to each team. Many of the parent coaches really enjoyed coaching (for most them was their first coaching experience) and were looking forward to coaching and refereeing again this year. ESL Class(English as a Second Language) Umatilla County has a high population of Hispanic families whose primary language is Spanish. In addition, a majority of Hispanic Head Start families lack a high school diploma. As a result, Blue Mountain Community College, in conjunction with UMCHS and Umatilla School District developed an English as a Second Language class. The ESL class was offered to Head Start families and community members who wanted to gain better skills in reading and speaking basic English. The class was offered from December to May and took place twice a week Monday and Wednesday from 6:00 to 8:00pm. BMCC supplied the instructor and testing materials while UMCHS provided money for the teacher, books and child care. The school district allowed the class to meet at West Park Elementary for no fee. The theme and lessons focused on parents reading to their children. Towards the end of March and May families received refreshments and parents had a chance to read to their children. Certificates were also given to students who completed a certain amount of hours. A total of 27 adults participated in the ESL class. Guy Time Group Once a month Head Start men will be getting together to do a variety food and sporting activities. We will also have a chance to talk about family, work and other issues important to issues to us guys.

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