SPAN PROJECTS - SUMMARY INFORMATION

SCHOOL REFORM/IMPROVEMENT

Parent Information & Resource Center I & II/Parent Leadership Development Institute: This project provides information, technical assistance, and training, including a comprehensive eight-session training in school reform, education law, and effective parent participation, leadership, and advocacy for PTA officers, Title I and special education advisory council members, parents on Abbott-mandated school management teams, and other interested parents, in urban districts. Other available trainings include The Right Question Project, ASPIRA’s APEX Parent Leadership program, Compact for Learning, and Creating Family-Friendly Schools. The PIRC I Project Director (Tonya Hall), 6 Regional advocates/trainers housed in Paterson, Jersey City, Plainfield, Trenton, Camden and Vineland, and parent leaders conduct trainings and engage in projects aimed at increasing parent engagement and improving education. Ongoing technical assistance is provided to parent graduates. Telephone technical assistance is available for parents throughout the state. The PIRC II Project Director (Debra Jennings) and 3 advocates/trainers housed in Newark, Jersey City, and Elizabeth, work intensively with targeted Schools In Need of Improvement in these three districts to assist them to work more effectively with families and to increase family involvement at all levels. In addition, parent educators provide young parents with information and support to encourage activities as their children’s first teachers and facilitate participation in their children’s education in Abbott districts (PIRC I) and in migrant communities (PIRC II) through the Parents as Teachers program. For more information on SPAN’s Migrant Parent Education Project, contact Amy Vozel, Project Coordinator, at 609-394-5900. SPAN works with organizations such as the Urban League, the Education Law Center, the Association for Children of New Jersey, Head Start Councils, Unified Vailsburg Services Organization in Newark, the Paterson Education Fund, Public Education Network, Catholic Family and Community Services, and other community-based and advocacy groups, and interested schools, to enhance parent leadership development and engagement. For more information on PIRC I, or to schedule a leadership development training series for parents in your district, contact Tonya Hall at the Newark office x 114. For contact information for the regional sites, call Rasheedah Syed-Salaam at the Newark office, x 115. For information on PIRC II, contact Debra Jennings at 973-297-5300. For contact information for the 3 targeted district sites, contact Joyce Sykes at 973-297-5300. Through this project, SPAN is a member of the Committee of Advocates for Newark’s Children, the Newark Whole School Reform Oversight Committee, the New Jersey Department of Education’s No Child Left Behind Advisory Committee, New Jersey’s Enhancing Teacher Quality Advisory Committee, NJ Department of Education 21^st Century Community Learning Centers Advisory Committee, various Abbott Task Forces (School Governance, Measuring Student Achievement, and Early Childhood), the National Network of Partnership Schools, Partners for Family Involvement in Education, the National Coalition of Advocates for Students, and the National Coalition of Education Activists.

FAMILY STRENGTHENING

Parenting IS Prevention: Violence and Substance Abuse Prevention Project: This project provides comprehensive 10-14 session trainings, Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families and Communities and Strengthening Families in New Jersey’s Abbott districts to help parents learn how to develop better relationships with their children and help their children avoid substance abuse and violence. Other trainings available include Positive Behavior Supports and Discipline; Creating Positive School Climates; and Effective Discipline Strategies for Families. Contact Sh’corah Yehuda at the main Newark office, x 113, for more information.

SPECIAL EDUCATION/SPECIAL HEALTH AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS

Project SPAN Parent Training & Information Center: SPAN provides statewide training and technical assistance for families of children with disabilities or at risk of academic failure due to poverty, limited English proficiency, inadequate education, or special health, emotional or other needs. Telephone information and technical assistance is provided by SPAN staff at our main office in Newark, and our Northern and Southern regional offices. To obtain telephone technical assistance, or to request information or a training, our main office may be reached through our toll-free hotline, 1-800-654-SPAN or 973-642-8100. Speak to Maria Rodriguez (x 100) to set up a training, receive an information packet, be placed on the mailing list for our newsletter, The Bridge, or receive the telephone contact information for our northern (Carolyn Hayer) (201-343-2009 x 237) or southern (Dorothy Taylor) (609-394-5900) offices; ask for our technical assistance specialists Suzanne Mouldavan (x107), Zoie Barnett (x 104), or Geraldine Moore (x 118) to obtain telephone help. Telephone information and technical assistance is also available from trained volunteer SPAN Resource Parents at our Community Resource Centers covering 13 counties. If you want more information about the Community Resource Centers, Maria Rodriguez can provide the contact person and telephone number for each of our sites. Debra Fernandez (x 117), our PTI Director, can tell you how the Resource Parent system works and how you can become a volunteer Resource Parent. If you are interested in becoming a SPAN Resource Parent, or in setting up a training for your parent group to become Resource Parents, contact Penny Dragonnetti, Northern Training and Resource Center Coordinator, at 973-642-8100 x 102 or Peggy Kinsell, Southern Training and Resource Center Coordinator, at 856-642-4038. SPAN also has limited capacity to support families through in person meetings, meetings at school and district offices, and mediations and hearings. Staff of our Community Education Project can provide information, training, telephone technical assistance, and in-person technical assistance and support by appointment only for families in urban Essex County. Contact Community Education Project Coordinator Zoie Barnett (x104) or Geraldine Moore (x 118) at our main office for help. Staff of our Multilingual Center (in collaboration with Catholic Family and Community Services of Paterson), can provide information, training, technical assistance, and in-person technical assistance and support to Spanish-speaking families in Passaic County and statewide. Contact Rose Kardashian at Catholic Family and Community Services of Paterson, 973-279-7100, for help. SPAN also works with the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education and the NJ Developmental Disabilities Council Education Subcommittee on our Inclusive IEP Project, which provides trained parents to accompany other parents to IEP meetings seeking more inclusive services. SPAN collaborates with the Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities in the Medical Student Education Project. SPAN is a member of the New Jersey State Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs Monitoring Self-Assessment Steering Committee, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services’ Early Intervention Steering Committee, the National Alliance for Parent Centers, and the National Technical Assistance Alliance, where SPAN is the Center of Expertise on School Reform and Special Education. Our Executive Co-Director, Debra Jennings, also serves on the Advisory Board of the National Center for Special Education Accountability Monitoring.

Statewide Technical Assistance and Resources Team (START) Project: Project START provides technical assistance and training to existing parent support groups and to parents seeking to develop local parent support groups, as well as to districts seeking to work more effectively and collaboratively with families. Project START also provides trained peer consultants to support families at IEP and other school and district meetings. Trainings on literacy and core curriculum content standards are available for families. Web-based information and technical assistance is available from SPAN’s Legal Director, Martha Brecher, at 973-642-8100 x109.

In collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Education, Project START publishes two newsletters for families and professionals, Inclusion Insights and Transition Times, which are disseminated to every school in New Jersey and to SPAN’s mailing list. Through this project, scholarships are available for parents to attend SPAN’s annual conference. Contact START Director Lauren Hertes at 973-297-5300 for more information or to request assistance for your parent support group.

Family WRAP (Wisdom, Resources, Advocacy, and Parent to Parent Support): Family WRAP has three components: Project CARE provides a part-time parent advocate/Family Resources Specialist at eleven county-based Special Child Health Services (SCHS) case management units (Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Union) to support families who are registered with SCHS. They may provide information, telephone or in-person technical assistance, or support at mediation or due process. You may contact these staff through calling your county SCHS Case Management Unit. For more information, contact Patricia Paraskevacos, Project Coordinator, at the Passaic County Special Child office, 973-523-6778. New Jersey Statewide Parent to Parent, staffed by a part-time Statewide and four part-time Regional Parent Associates, provides orientations to parents and matches parents with experienced parent mentors to share experiences, concerns, and emotions concerning children with special health or emotional needs or disabilities. Parents who want to support other parents through telephone or in-person, or who want to receive the free quarterly newsletter, should contact Malia Corde, the Statewide coordinator, at 908-537-4673. You may obtain the contact information for the regional associates (NW, NE, Central, South) by calling Maria Rodriguez at the main SPAN office. Family Voices/ Bright Futures provides a part-time State Coordinator to disseminate information to families and professionals and involve them in public policy discussions and advocacy around health care and health insurance coverage issues. Lauren Agoratus can provide trainings or telephone technical assistance on health advocacy, managed care, partners for patients, appealing denials of medical coverage, and other health and healthcare issues affecting children with special needs. There is also a free bimonthly newsletter. Contact Family Voices at 800-654-7726 x 110. Through this project, SPAN is a member of National Family Voices, Bright Futures for Children, and Families USA.

Essex County Family “WRAP” (Wisdom, Resource, Advocacy, and Parent to Parent Support): This project expands SPAN’s Project CARE, Parent to Parent, and Family Voices services in Essex County, with a special focus on urban districts in Essex County. A full-time SPAN Family Resource Specialist, Shirley Johnson, is stationed at the SPAN office to provide information, telephone and in-person technical assistance, and support to families in Newark, Irvington, East Orange, and Orange. For more information, contact Shirley Johnson at 973-642-8100 x 112. Through this project, SPAN is a member of the Newark Special Education Parent Advisory Council and the Newark Special Education Oversight Committee.

New Jersey Inclusive Child Care Project: This project provides a full-time project coordinator and access to training and technical assistance implementation expertise to facilitate the inclusion of children with special needs (disabilities, special health or emotional needs, or at risk due to poverty, limited English proficiency, or extenuating family circumstances) in early childhood/child care and after-school care programs. Free information, training and technical assistance are available to providers, parents, school districts, early intervention programs, and others. We disseminate a Resource Guide for including children with special needs; a brief “Q&A” and longer information packet on ADA/504 and child care; and parent and provider guidebooks to selecting child care for children with special needs. The annual inclusive child care conference is aimed at both child care providers and families. The project also seeks to engage families and professionals in advocacy aimed at increasing and enhancing the availability and quality of early childhood programs for all children. If you would like to find out more about the project, or have a training or on-site technical assistance provided to your child care or before or after school center, contact Susan Merrill Guider, Project Director, at 973-642-8100 x 108. Through this project, SPAN is a member of the Map to Inclusive Child Care Team, the New Jersey Professional Standards for Child Care work group, the Early Care and Education Coalition, Build-NJ, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Transition to Adult Life/School to Work: SPAN provides information, training, technical assistance and support to families and youth ages 14-21 transitioning to adult life. This project provides a part-time coordinator/trainer, Alice Hunnicutt, 973-642-8100 x 103, and two part-time technical assistance specialists, one in the north (Liz Mulholland), and one in the south (Joanne McKeown). SPAN conducts at least one transition to adult life training for parents in each county, and one for youth themselves in each county. Contact Maria Rodriguez at the central SPAN office to schedule a transition training, or find out when and where the next training closest to you is already scheduled. Contact Liz (north) at the Bergen County Special Child Health Services Case Management Unit, 201-599-6153, and Joanne (south) at the Camden County Special Child Health Services Case Management Unit, 856-374-6242, for telephone technical assistance. In very limited circumstances, it may be possible that someone may accompany you to an IEP meeting or mediation.

PARENT ENGAGEMENT

Parents Engaged in Public Policy: PEPP trains parents to be effective participants in public policy advocacy on issues affecting their children, particularly in the areas of education and health. SPAN's Executive Co-Directors, Diana Autin, x 105, and Debra Jennings, 973-297-5300, with extensive legislative and policy experience, coordinate this project, conduct the trainings, develop ongoing Action Alerts on important public policy issues, and provides ongoing technical assistance to parent participants to support their engagement in the public policy debate. Contact Maria Rodriguez at the main SPAN office to request a training for your parent or advocacy group or to obtain the PEPP Training packet. Through this project, SPAN works with the New Jersey Promise the Children Network, the Governing Institute of New Jersey, the Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Non-Profit Corporations in New Jersey. SPAN’s advocacy training manual for grassroots family organizations is available free of charge.

Children and Family Initiative (with the Association for Children of New Jersey, the New Jersey Mental Health Association, and the New Jersey Parents’ Caucus). This project works to engage parents and professionals in a movement for comprehensive, coordinated, culturally competent services for children and families across agencies and issue areas, with a special focus on children with challenging behaviors, emotional disabilities, and special mental health needs. The project coordinator, Alice Hunnicutt, can be reached at 973-642-8100 x 103. Debra Jennings is on the Board of the Parents’ Caucus. Debra Jennings and Zoie Barnett serve on the Children’s System of Care Implementation Advisory Council, and Alice Hunnicutt is a member of the Ad Hoc Education and the Family Support Organization/Caregiver Committees. Through this project, SPAN is a member of the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health and Family Support America.