PoWeR! Book Bags
Final Grant Report for
Fiscal agent if applicant is not tax exempt:
Tax ID Number:
81-2406342
Contact First Name:
Contact Last Name:
Kara
Gregory
PO Box 533, Suttons Bay MI 49682
Address:
Email:
231-343-0255
Phone Number:
Project Name:
PoWer! Book Bags in Charlevoix and Emmet Counties
Project start and end dates:
Saturday, January 1, 2022
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Amount Granted From Hestia:
$
2000
Project results and Impact
How many girls/women have been served by the project during this project year?
Approximately 1300 women AND their children have been served through the PoWeR! Book Bags Programs in Charlevoix and Emmet counties at the Women's Resource Centers and Health Departments in 2022.
Goal of the Project
Did you meet your program goals for the grant period?
If yes, how do you know? Please describe any program evaluation you use:
If no, please describe current barriers and how you are working to overcome them:
Yes, we did meet our program goals to increase the overall number of resources in the homes for women to use with their children to support language and literacy development. Throughout the Women's Resource Centers and the Emmet and Charlevoix's Health Departments, over 5,728 books and 1,421 PoWeR! Literacy Bags were selected and distributed to everyone receiving services in 2022. The staff at all of the partner sites reported delight and joyful reactions from children and their Moms/caregivers as they selected and received the materials. (The staff also displayed enthusiasm, hugging our volunteer nearly every month when deliveries occurred at one of the health departments!)
We did not distribute as many books and bags as expected during the year at the Health Departments. This was because the Health Emergency Measures from the Federal Government were still in place, which meant that families did not have to come in to receive services. This has been lifted. As of August, families will be required to be seen at WIC and we expect to distribute many more materials again!
Do you have a story of how your program positively changed participant's situation, behavior, or knowledge?
If so, please share it:
As the resources at home for reading grew, it was reported that mothers and their children engaged more often in reading together! One mom reported that now that she had more than her two old books, that got "so boring to read over and over again," she was "actually enjoying" reading with her daughter and found that they were reading more often because "these new books are so cute and fun and I have lots of books to choose from at home now!"
These interactions described influence so much more than the language and literacy abilities of the child. According to Early Relational Health research, reading with her child positively builds that critical foundational relationship between the mother and child that increases the health and well being for BOTH of them (as well increasing the daughter's language & literacy experiences, positively influencing future learning, friendships, graduation, and overall life success). THANK YOU for this opportunity!
Sustainability
Will this project continue?
If so, how will it be funded?
If not, why not?
We are fully committed to finding ways to continue and sustain our program. Especially for this population, we cannot let them down. By delivering a choice of new books and fun interaction materials through our community partners in a predictable fashion, we are establishing a sense of trust and communicating to the mothers and their children that they are WORTH our investment and that we BELIEVE in them. To keep this going, our full time volunteer fundraiser and executive director are pursuing relationships with service organizations, grants with corporations, foundations, and state resources. We are building our donor base and expanding our fundraising activities.
Public Relations
How did you publicize this grant?
Please list any examples.
In each bag distributed, we included a Welcome Letter that lists not only resources for the families to use, but also every funding source, including Hestia Women's Giving Circle. We also publicly thanked Hestia Women's Giving Circle on the Signage at our Annual Birthday Celebration, on our website, and in the thank you ads run in January.
Summary Comments
We genuinely appreciate your financial support. Further, we value you as a true partner in our mission to increase children's access to language, literacy and human interactions. With the support of the Hestia Women's Giving Circle, you have helped our organization and program gain a positive community endorsement, which is invaluable! Because we are working with women and children who are economically disadvantaged, we are truly touching the lives that need our work the most. With every resource we share: the books, the language toys, and the writing supplies, we increase the materials that the moms and children have at home to enjoy together to build their bond and that foundational relationship that is crucial for nearly everything the rest of their lives. Thanks for being our partners to help foster children's Early Relational Health, build their language and literacy skills, and set them up for life AND for allowing us the opportunity to work with our community partners to empower the moms and caregivers to forge strong bonds with their children. So many lives are being impacted by this work -- now and well into the future. We are very grateful you have joined us!
Grant Final Budget Form
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