Party for a Purpose with CAP
JOIN US for our PARTY for a PURPOSE!
Date: Saturday, April 29, 2017
Time: 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm
Location: Union Street restaurant, 107 Union Street, Newton, MA
JOIN US for our PARTY for a PURPOSE!
Date: Saturday, April 29, 2017
Time: 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm
Location: Union Street restaurant, 107 Union Street, Newton, MA
Open House at Family ACCESS Early Learning Center
Friday, November 3 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. (or by appointment any other time.)
Family ACCESS offers full-day, year-round early education and child care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers getting ready for Kindergarten. Children explore, thrive and have fun at Family ACCESS. At our Open House, we invite new families to tour our center, talk with teachers, and let your children explore our large, bright classrooms. Enrollment for fall is open now!
Family ACCESS is a Brazelton Touchpoints Site. Located at 492 Waltham Street, West Newton, behind CVS.
For more information about our Open House, please call Lacey at (617) 969-5906 x121 or lmallett@familyaccess.org. If you can’t attend this Open House but are interested in taking a tour at another time, please contact Lacey and she will work with you to schedule a tour at a time that is convenient for you.
Learn more about our programs!
WS Development of Chestnut Hill has once again donated toys and wrapping supplies to families of 75 children that are served through Family ACCESS programs such as Counseling and Consultation Services, Early Literacy Services and the Early Learning Center.
“Our families are always so moved and honored to have so many people be so generous towards them and their kids on Christmas,” said Deb Brush, director of the Early Literacy Services program here at family ACCESS, “it really helps them to feel supported and cared for.”
Bob Mooney, Collections Manager at WS Development shared this, “We want to thank you for putting this together for us and allowing us (with help from Marcum ) to participate in spreading the Holiday Spirit!! It is truly what this time of the year is all about. We are already looking forward to next year!”
Thank you to all the staff at WS Development, for ensuring a happy holiday for each and every child you helped. may your celebrations be equally as joyous!
Giving Tuesday is a day to do good and to give back. It’s a chance to say thank you and a chance to show your local community just how much you care. It was started in 2012 by two small non-profits in New York that wanted to highlight local giving the way Small Business Saturday promotes local businesses. Giving Tuesday follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday with the idea that local charitable giving right after so much consumerism is a really nice balance. In less than four years, it has become a social media force that helps local charitable organizations meet the needs of their clients.
We, at Family ACCESS, are working really hard to raise awareness of our organization through this event, “I believe that giving locally on #GivingTuesday is an extraordinary simple, but elegant, way to express our support our most vulnerable families. Many of them are feeling especially vulnerable and alienated this year and your financial support tells them that they are not only welcome, but they are critical to the character of our community,” Jon Firger, Executive Director of Family ACCESS.
A local resident, Alexandra Hall, started giving on #GivingTuesday because she wanted special gifts for friends so she made donations in their names. She went to our website because she felt that it fit her friends interests and passions. “It was an incredibly easy process and I wound up walking away feeling good about having helped an organization that needs a boost and got my friends some really great gifts that were from the heart. I ended up donating from myself as well.”
So make today the day you give back to your local community. Make #GivingTuesday your new annual day to make it count!
We are pleased to announce that Family ACCESS is one of the 100 local non-profits to receive grants of $100,000 each through the Cummings Foundation’s “$100k for 100” program. The Newton-based organization was chosen from a total of 479 applicants during a very competitive review process. Family ACCESS empowers and strengthens families and the community by providing programs that nurture child development, promote effective parenting skills and supports working parents. Our name reminds us of the doors that open, and the rich journeys that result, when children and families have access to the very best education-based resources and programs.
“We are incredibly proud that our hard-working teachers and educated staff have earned such a wonderful recognition of their hard work and determination to help all children succeed. We are going to use this money to strengthen our programs even further,” says Jon Firger, Executive Director of Family ACCESS, “We plan to use this money to enhance and develop our child and family programs throughout Newton, Waltham and surrounding communities.”
The $100k for 100 program supports non-profits that are not only based in but primarily serve Middlesex, Essex and Suffolk counties. This year, the program is benefitting 41 different cities and towns within the Commonwealth.
Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm lease and managers more than 10 million square feet of space. The majority of which exclusively benefits the foundation.
“We admire and very much appreciate the important work that non-profits like Family ACCESS are doing in the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “We are delighted to support their efforts.”
This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes of causes, including education, homelessness prevention, elder services, healthcare, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
The complete list of 100 grant winners is available at www.cummingsfoundation.org.
Newton, MA – To mark 25 years of teaching Newton children to be “Safe, Strong and Free,” CAP Child Assault Prevention program held its third annual Party for a Purpose on Saturday, March 19, 2016. Hosted by CAP volunteers Dan and Suzanne Demeo, the party was attended by 74 guests from the Newton community for dinner and dancing at The Social Restaurant.
Commendations for service were awarded to CAP by the office of Rep. Kay Khan and the Massachusetts House of Representatives and by the office of Mayor Setti Warren and the City of Newton.
The celebratory event and auction was attended by CAP Director Gail Sommer and CAP volunteers Dan Demeo, Kim Freedman, Jessica Long, Judi MacKenzie, Mary Malloy, Katie Sawatzky, Zoe Stoesser, Marisa Tuncali, and Marcelle Watkin.
“We’re parents of three boys,” says Dan Demeo, CAP volunteer and Party for a Purpose host with wife his Suzanne. “I know I can’t always be with them when they go to school or to go to practice. So I am pretty passionate about the CAP lessons that teach all our children how to stay safe. Because CAP is independent of the schools, it needs our financial support to reach all the kids it does.”
Introduced in Newton in 1991, CAP is a violence prevention curriculum targeting bullying and child assault. In 90 minute workshops delivered to Kindergarten, 2nd and 5th grade classrooms, CAP empowers elementary school children with the right to stand up for oneself, to enlist peers as allies, and to report unsafe situations to a trusted adult. CAP approaches the question of assault within the framework of basic human rights: all children have the rights to be Safe, Strong and Free. This program is delivered annually to more than 3100 children in Newton, Brookline and Boston. For help approaching this conversation at home visit the CAP website at familyaccess.org for a link to the Adult Information Guide.
Family ACCESS thanks the corporate sponsors for the evening: Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation, Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, Staples Foundation, Luxury Mortgage Corporation, Demeo Realty Group and RE/MAX, Lieberman Law Office, P.C. and the Newton Elks.
Family ACCESS received a $5,000 grant from Foundation for MetroWest to support life-changing family counseling programs for low-income families and young pregnant or parenting teens and their children in Waltham. A team of skilled mental health clinicians provides a continuum of care that ranges from individual and family counseling, child therapy, home visiting, crisis intervention, case management, and advocacy. Foundation for MetroWest’s commitment stabilizes vulnerable families, prevents child neglect and abuse, and ensures young parents care for themselves as well as their children to reach their full potential.
“We work with parents who are challenged by domestic violence, past trauma and mental illness, all of which effects the development of their young children,” explains Jon Firger, MSW MBA, Executive Director of Family ACCESS. “Our program interventions are designed to specifically address the quality of parent support and early childhood social behavior in order to improve a child’s healthy development, readiness for school and their life chances. We are truly grateful for The Foundation’s life-changing support.”
The comprehensive Young Parent Support program for pregnant and parenting teens and young adults (age 13 – 23 years) is the core of Family ACCESS Counseling & Consultation Services. These services are designed to engage otherwise isolated young parents, increase the parents’ capacity to nurture their children and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect, as well as to increase the young parents’ financial and emotional self-sufficiency and improve their life-management skills and self-care.
Kathy has relied on Family ACCESS counseling to help her achieve her goals. “Since I got pregnant, Family ACCESS has helped me with finishing high school and now I’m in college. They helped me get quality child care and helped me learn to be a good mom.”
Bilingual and culturally competent counseling also focuses resources for Waltham’s large immigrant community from Central and South America whose trauma, isolation and mental health concerns make critical the need for parenting counseling and support.
About Family ACCESS
Family ACCESS is a community-based non-profit organization that empowers and strengthens families through a set of four integrated programs: The Family ACCESS Early Learning Center, Family ACCESS Early Literacy Services, Family ACCESS Counseling and Consultation Services, and CAP Child Assault Prevention. Our mission is to strengthen children, families, and the community by providing programs that nurture child development, promote effective parenting skills, and support working parents. We actively engage a racially, economically, and culturally diverse population, and partner with area schools, community organizations, and other nonprofit and public social service agencies to reach children in need. For over 100 years, the organization has served thousands of families, regardless of their economic status, from Newton, Waltham and neighboring towns. To learn more, please visit www.familyaccess.org or call 617-969-5906.
About Foundation for MetroWest
Established in 1995, the Foundation for MetroWest is the only community foundation serving the 33 cities and towns in the region. We promote philanthropy in the region, help donors maximize the impact of their local giving, serve as a resource for local nonprofits and enhance the quality of life for all our residents. Since inception, the Foundation has granted $11.6 million to charitable organizations and currently stewards more than $15 million in charitable assets for current needs and future impact. To learn more, please visit www.foundationformetrowest.org or call 508-647-2260.
Family ACCESS is pleased to announce that Catherine “Cate” Brooks has joined Family ACCESS as our new Director of the ELC program. Cate Brooks has been in early childhood education for over thirty years. She began her career in a preschool special education classroom and has spent many years teaching early childhood in the Cambridge area. She transitioned to directing non-profit early learning centers in parent cooperatives solidifying her commitment to partnering with parents. During her career she has seen the field of early childhood education embrace many different schools of thought. Through the years Cate has had the intention of making a difference in the lives of children.
“I have always thought the only way to change the world was one child at a time. I wanted the world to be a kinder, gentler and more compassionate place”, said Cate, “and the mission here at Family ACCESS, the commitment to serving diverse populations, the agency having a multi-pronged approach and the uniqueness of having consulting and counseling in the school made it irresistible to me in terms of fulfilling that plan.”
“Cate has a track record of developing great teaching teams and of engaging parents in a meaningful way. She brings a level of energy and enthusiasm that will be contagious,” said Jon Firger, Executive Director of Family ACCESS of Newton. “Cate offers an approach to managing, supervising and communicating that is very consistent with our organizational culture. We strive to create collaborative partnerships between teaching teams, parents and supervisors to ensure that we are all responding to unique needs of every child.”
On Saturday, April 25 at 10 am.
Family ACCESS presents Newton Country Day School Dance Ensemble performing the delightful ballet “Alice in Wonderland” for families with young children. The 30-minute show is perfect for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners. The performers will visit the audience after the show. Free and open to the public.
Interested in learning more about how to get your kids to eat healthier? Come Saturday, April 18 at 10:00-11:30am.
Linda Ghiron, a child nutrition specialist, will provide valuable tricks and tips to help children develop into life-long healthy eaters. This is an adult discussion; children are not advised to attend. Contact Lonnie Schroeder to RSVP by email or phone at 617-969-5906 x123.
Call (617) 969-5906 ext. 121 or click below for more information on how to enroll your child today!