Family Literacy


Our Even Start Family Literacy Program is a community partnership that helps break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by integrating early childhood education, home visitation, parent/child interactive literacy activities, adult education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program. Our programs help children and families achieve academic and social success by enriching language development, extending learning, and supporting high levels of educational success for children and their parents. Through parental involvement, parents learn to be their child’s teacher and advocate. Our programs allow children and parents to learn together and develop habits of life-long learning. Families can participate in the program from the birth of the child until age 7 .

Even Start is implemented nationally through cooperative projects that build on high-quality existing community resources, creating a new range of services for children, families and adults. Programs help children and families achieve the academic standards set forth by the State and use instructional programs driven by scientifically- based reading research to

  • Enrich language development, extend learning, and support high levels of educational success for children at birth to age seven and their parents;
  • Provide literacy services of sufficient hours and duration to make sustainable changes in a family;
  • Provide integrated instructional services for families, where children and their parents learn together to develop habits of life-long learning; and
  • Support families committed to education and to economic independence.

The program at the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center is offered to families who show a high level of commitment to participating in the four areas of Even Start. Families often put in over 20 hours per week into goals they have set with their Even Start Home Visitor.

For more information about the Family Literacy Programs at Walnut Avenue Women’s  Center or to see how you can help please contact our office 831.426.3062.