30 Oct Irven E. & NeVada P. Linscomb Foundation Awards a $20,000 Grant to the YMCA of Greater Kansas City
The YMCA of Greater Kansas City recently received a grant for $20,000 from the Irven E. & NeVada P. Linscomb Foundation to deliver trauma-informed education services for low-income and disadvantaged children, ages 3-5 years, in Clay and Platte counties.
The Head Start program promotes academic and social-emotional development, and provides social, health, and nutrition services with the ultimate goal of ensuring children are “kindergarten ready.” This includes appropriate development in cognitive function, executive function, and socio-emotional competencies. The Y uses evidence-based curricula and data-driven assessments to ensure quality programming and services. Children receive at least six hours of programming and up to five hours of additional wraparound programming per day five days per week for 34 weeks per year. As an additional quality marker, the Y is establishing Trauma Informed Teams (TIC) across all our Head Start locations, including the Northland. The Y began a relationship with Crittenton Children’s Center at St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City seven years ago, increasingly building internal capacity to sustain their Trauma Smart® (TS), a model for supporting teachers, staff, and parents in addressing challenging behaviors.
Fewer than half of children in poverty are school ready by age five (Starting School at a Disadvantage: The School Readiness of Poor Children, 2012). This project fills the need for quality affordable, comprehensive early education that prepares low-income children for kindergarten success. Equipping teachers and parents with trauma-informed skills and strategies helps foster learning environments where low-income children can overcome risk factors and develop important self-regulation and social-emotional skills, while also developing academically and physically. Early childhood trauma physically alters the brain, making learning more difficult. Trauma-informed care has been proven to re-build damaged areas in children’s brains.
The YMCA of Greater Kansas City (the Kansas City Y) was founded in 1860. Founded as the seventh YMCA in the North American YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) movement, the Kansas City Y has over 158 years of experience in meeting the holistic needs of community members of all ages. The Y improves the quality of people’s lives by helping them develop healthy habits; helping children connect to caring adults through sports and youth development programs; and by providing opportunities to meet new people and serve the community. The Kansas City Y impacts more than 140,000 unique individuals annually at 13 membership centers and 100 program sites serving Jackson, Clay, and Platte counties in Missouri, and Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas.