Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond announces new early childhood initiatives including funding for St. Louis-based Parents as Teachers Program

Parents as Teachers National Center
Friday, 16 February 2001

PATNC friends and staff host press conference and reception in honor of Bond's support

Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc. (PATNC) publicly acknowledged Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond at a reception today at the PATNC headquarters in Creve Coeur.

The senator announced new early childhood initiatives, including funding for the St. Louis-based Parents as Teachers program. He is kicking-off a series of statewide appearances centering on early childhood education this week. Today, Bond highlighted his "VITAL" proposal, the Volunteers Interested in Taking Action for Literacy, to increase early literacy and volunteer activities related to literacy.

Included in the VITAL proposal is a Parents as Teachers National Literacy Initiative component. The Director of the Corporation of National and Community Service shall award $5,000,000 directly to PATNC to carry out this component which calls for PAT to work with the National Center for Family Literacy to determine among other things how to reach the low-literate and increase parental involvement related to literacy. PAT will also continue to link parents with other community resources as well as provide literacy information and materials to such organizations as Head Start, Even Start, and local educational agencies.

In a brief presentation today, PATNC President/CEO David Walker expressed his appreciation to Senator Bond for recognizing the value of Parents as Teachers by including the program in the recent appropriations bill for the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies. Under this initiative, Senator Bond included $2.5 million in funding for Parents as Teachers to continue its efforts to provide early literacy experiences for children and to empower parents as their children's first teachers.

Parents as Teachers, a nonprofit organization, provides parental education and support to families of all configurations and life circumstances. The program is international in scope and is built on the philosophies that babies are born to learn and that parents are their children's first and most influential teachers. Created in Missouri in 1981, Parents as Teachers is a voluntary program designed to help parents give their children (prenatal through kindergarten entry) the best possible start in life.

For more information, or to contact Parents as Teachers National Center, see their website at: www.patnc.org