65 Percent Parent Participation in Duval County, Providing Remote Support to Families in Need, ReadyRosie Platform Shift  

Jacksonville, Fla. – 3/24/2020 –As the country faces a health pandemic, social services organization like Lutheran Services Florida, is adapting its critical services to the most vulnerable Floridians. Following guidance from Federal and State officials to control the spread of coronavirus by practicing social distancing, LSF Duval Head Start yesterday launched a virtual learning program for our families. We are excited to report 65 percent participation among Head Start/Early Head Start Child Care Partnerships families in Duval County.

Leveraging ReadyRosie, a technology platform that enables educators to communicate with families and share early education content, LSF Duval Head Start is now providing remote learning to more than 1,400 children and families during this unprecedented time. Our Head Start programs were previously using ReadyRosie to help parents engage with their children and continue learning outside traditional classroom hours so with a few simple adjustments we were able to shift the focus to fit the new need.

“Although we have closed our center doors, we have not closed our hearts, knowledge, passion, and ability to continue educating our children and helping our families at LSF Duval Head Start. Our team shares a passion to work with families in crisis and launching a virtual program is our way to stay connected and provide quality education for our children and families,” LaTanya Wynn-Hall, Director LSF Head Start said.

The activities and parent videos are simple and offer parents ways to turn an everyday routine, like putting away groceries into vocabulary practice. One video shows a parent describing peanut butter, bread and canned tomatoes to their child and asks them to close their eyes and guess the food.

We are still working through challenges but are encouraged by the opportunity this provides. Below are some key components of the program:

• iPads provided to LSF teachers
• daily activities and parent videos uploaded to ReadyRosie
• paper learning packets distributed to families
• weekly newsletter sent including information about community resources and mindfulness/wellness

LSF Head Start serves more than 5,400 children and families each year in Duval, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties through our Head Start and Early Head Start programs serving children from birth to 5 years-old by working to close the achievement gap and serve the family as a whole.

To partner with us or schedule a media interview contact Terri Durdaller via email at terri.durdaller@lsfnet.org and visit LSF Duval Head Start on Facebook for updates and videos.  You can also check out www.lsfnet.org/covid19/ for the latest information on LSF’s response to the pandemic.

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Media Contact:

Terri Durdaller, LSF Vice President of Communications

Terri.durdaller@lsfnet.org

813-802-8790