Arguing that children suffer when fathers are not engaged in their care and early schooling, the director of the Fatherhood Project at the New York City-based Families and Work Institute has written a book to help early-childhood programs involve fathers.
The book offers tips for programs ranging from Head Start centers to public schools on how to recruit men, create a “father-friendly’’ environment, and offer fathers’ groups and other activities to sustain their interest.
It also profiles 14 early-childhood and parenting programs with strong father-involvement components.
Copies of the book, Getting Men Involved: Strategies for Early Childhood Programs, by James A. Levine with Dennis T. Murphy and Sherrill Wilson, are available for $12.95 each from Scholastic Inc., Early Childhood Division, 730 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003; (800) 631-1586.
Post-graduate education and training are critical to the success of African-Americans seeking leadership positions in early-childhood education, a new study concludes.
The study, conducted by the National Black Child Development Institute with assistance from the Urban Institute, involved a review of literature and surveys on black participation in early-childhood programs and interviews with 25 leaders in the field.
The study, released at the N.B.C.D.I.'s annual meeting in New York last month, found that African-Americans in early-childhood jobs have more experience, but less formal education, than their white colleagues. It concluded that “a lack of college degrees and financial resources for higher education’’ have hurt black mobility.
While those in leadership roles said families, mentors, and professional organizations helped them to advance, they also noted “subtle forms of racism.’'
More information on the report, “Paths to African-American Leadership Positions in Early Childhood Education: Constraints and Opportunities,’' is available from the National Black Child Development Institute, 1023 15th St., N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20005; (202) 387-1281.
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is launching a program to train low-income adults to work in early-childhood settings with disadvantaged children.
The program, funded by a five-year, $4.3 million grant from the U.S. Education Department, will begin in January with 60 students and eventually serve 120. It will allow low-income adults to earn associate’s degrees at two area community colleges and then encourage them to complete their bachelor’s degrees at the university and become certified for work in public preschools.--D.C.
