Donley Awardees

On April 18, 2013, 120 business, education, and community advocates gathered to honor Allentown Police Chief Roger MacLean and members of the Northampton County Medical Society Alliance as the 2013 recipients of the Inez and Edward Donley Award for Children’s Advocacy. Community Services for Children founded the award in 1996 honoring a lifetime of support for children. The Donley were the first recipients.

Joan Benso, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, was keynote speaker. She addressed the research that supports quality early education as a foundation for achievement. She applauded the efforts especially of the Early Learning Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, composed of business and education leaders who champion early education through government policy and budgeting.

State senators Pat Brown and Lisa Boscola were joined by other Lehigh Valley legislators Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, Mike Schlossberg and Dan McNeil to applaud the work of the two honorees and presented them with state commendations. Field representatives for US Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey also presented commendations, Carol Obando-Derstine and Marta Gabriel, respectively.

Among others attending were Edward Donley, Dev Chanchani, Dr. Russell Mayo, James Martin, Jane Ervin, Dr. Karen Angello, Don Bernhard, Michana Johnson, and Kay Hughston.

3S33d_admin April 22nd, 2013

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PNC volunteers tops!

PNC, providers of the $100 million Grow Up Great early education initiative, challenged their staff to volunteer in Head Start preschool classrooms in the Lehigh Valley. If they were able to volunteer 100 hours in a 12-month period, PNC would make a generous cash donation to the site. PNC staff were more than equal to the challenge and fulfilled the 100 hours in two locations, one in Allentown and one in Bethlehem. Each site received a $3000 donation.

Community Services for Children administers quality preschool and other early education services in a 13-county area including Lehigh and Northampton counties, affecting 40,000 children annually.

3S33d_admin March 27th, 2013

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Science Detective Camp Offered

Community Services for Children, recognized as an early education leader in the greater Lehigh Valley, is offering six summer camp sessions between June 17 and July 26. The camp is called “Kids & Animals: Awesome Bodies!” and is designed for children entering kindergarten, first and second grade in the fall.

Through games, songs, experiments, crafts, and stories, children will explore what makes us human and how we’re alike and different from our animal friends, too.  Each session also focuses on how to keep ourselves healthy. The six weekly sessions run Monday – Friday, 9 am – noon.

Titles of the sessions are: Teeth and Claws, Scales, Feathers & Fur; Fight or Flight?; My Achey-Breaky Heart (and lungs); What’s the Sense of That!; It’s a Tiny World After All (Bugs and Babies); What’s on the Menu?

Each weekly session is $145. Child care is extra and is available before and after camp.

The camp will be held on the Donley Children’s Campus, Fowler Building, 1520 Hanover Ave, Allentown.

CSC is a regional leader in early childhood education and family development, affecting the lives of 40,000 children annually. CSC believes all children deserve a chance to succeed in school, which begins in early childhood within a nurturing family.

For additional information, contact abuss@cscinc.org; 610-437-6000, x 2112.

3S33d_admin March 7th, 2013

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Legacy of 3 Graces Lives On

Within a week of late January to early February 2013, the Lehigh Valley mourned the passing of three women known for their charity: Inez Donley, Linny Fowler and Priscilla Payne Hurd. Their good works in education, health, the arts, and more are well known.  We, too, at Community Services for Children have shared in their generosity toward low income children making the uphill struggle to be ready to achieve in kindergarten. To name just a few of their gifts to us: The Donley Children’s Campus, The Donley Family Infant Center, and The Fowler Building. Mrs. Hurd frequently preferred to remain “anonymous” in our lists, however, her contributions through two foundations have no less bolstered our efforts to help generations of young children.

I am struck by this question and I pose it to you for meditation: If you had millions of dollars, garnered either through pluck or luck, how would you spend it? Withdraw to a Pacific island or mountain retreat? Gather all the “toys” you could to enjoy? Party til the end of time?

Most of us won’t have millions to decide upon. Yet might we too follow their example within our capacity to share our blessings with our fellow man.

3S33d_admin March 5th, 2013

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Business reads Dr Seuss

In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, area businesses, legislators, police, and others are picking up the iconic red and white striped hat to read to children in Head Start classrooms across the valley. We tip our hat to the following: Bethlehem Police, Capital BlueCross, Discover Lehigh Valley, Lehigh University student athletes, PNC Bank, Team Capital Bank, US Senator Bob Casey’s office, and Working Dog Press.  Working Dog Press created new coloring books for the Head Start children. Readers will join the children in their classrooms on Friday, March 1 and Monday, March 4.

Dr. Seuss, pen name for Theodore Geisel, created the Cat in the Hat and other memorable characters to encourage early reading.  His birthday is March 2, celebrated annually nationwide to share the joy of reading.

Head Start of the Lehigh Valley, administered through Community Services for Children (CSC), prepares children from low income families for kindergarten through an emphasis on language and literacy development, health and nutrition, social/emotional growth, science, math and art. CSC is a regional leader in early childhood education and family development, affecting the lives of 40,000 children annually. CSC believes all children deserve a chance to succeed in school, which begins in early childhood within a nurturing family.

3S33d_admin February 26th, 2013

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Head Start earns top accreditation

Community Services for Children’s Head Start classrooms have earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) – the nation’s leading organization of early childhood professionals.

“NAEYC accreditation lets families in our community know that children in our program are getting the best early learning experiences possible,” said Jane Ervin, CEO and President of CSC.

“We’re proud to have earned the mark of quality form NAEYC and to be recognized for our commitment to reaching the highest professional standards,” said Paula Margraf, Executive Vice President of CSC and Director of Head Start of the Lehigh Valley.

To earn NAEYC accreditation, Head Start of the Lehigh Valley went through an extensive self-study process measuring the program and its services against the 10 NAEYC early childhood program standards and more than 400 related accreditation criteria. The program received NAEYC accreditation after an on-site visit by NAEYC assessors to ensure the program meets each of the 10 program standards. NAEYC-accredited programs are also subject to unannounced visits during their accreditation, which lasts 5 years.

In the 25 years since NAEYC accreditation was established, it has become widely recognized sign of high quality early childhood education. More than 7000 programs are currently accredited by NAEYC – approximately 8% of all preschools and early childhood programs.

Community Services for Children is a regional leader in early childhood education and family development, affecting the lives of 40,000 children annually. CSC believes all children deserve a chance to succeed in school, which begins in early childhood within a nurturing family.

3S33d_admin February 22nd, 2013

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Donley Award to Northampton Medical Alliance, Allentown Police Chief

 On April 18, 2013, Community Services for Children will recognize Allentown Police Chief Roger MacLean and the Northampton County Medical Society Alliance with The Inez and Edward Donley Award for Children’s Advocacy. The event takes place at The Sands Conference Center, Monroe Room, at noon. Tickets are $50. Sponsorships are available.

Given for the first time in 1996, Community Services for Children established this prestigious award to acknowledge public service at the local, state, and/or national levels which has significantly improved the quality of life for children. Mr. and Mrs. Donley, who exemplify the spirit of the award, were the first recipients. We continue to honor  their example by naming the award for them.

Chief Roger MacLean Chief MacLean of the Allentown Police Department has been a leading spokesman throughout our region and Pennsylvania promoting the importance of quality early childhood education as a deterrent of juvenile crime. The program is called “Fight Crime, Invest in Kids.” This anti-crime organization of over 5000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and violence survivors across the country takes a hard look at the research about what prevents kids from becoming criminals and puts that information in the hands of policymakers and the general public. As such, Chief MacLean is a major proponent of quality early education and prevention of child abuse.

Northampton County Medical Society Alliance The Alliance has partnered with CSC/Head Start of the Lehigh Valley for 15 years. Alliance members provide health-related instruction in the classrooms, educational materials, and annual financial donations to the Family Resource Fund (aka “Operation Heart Throb”). When they come into the classrooms, they do art activities with the children, lead them in gross motor activities, sing, read, provide the children with a healthy snack as well as a book related to the activity of the month. They sponsor special speakers to come speak with the children and parents, especially physicians, who talk about keeping their bodies healthy.

In addition to the Donleys, past individual recipients include Mrs. Rebecca Gorton, Mrs. Ardath Rodale, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Butz, Mr. Kostas Kalogeropolous, Mrs. Patricia W. Levin, The Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Dr. Arthur L. Scott, Mr. Scott Fainor, Dr. Diane Scott, The Honorable Jeanette Reibman, Mr. L. Jack Bradt, Mr. Peter Carpino, Mrs. Marlene “Linny” Fowler, and Dr. and Mrs. Peter Likins.

Past recipients of the Organization Award are Computer Aid, PPL Corporation, Education 2020!, St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network, The Women’s Leadership Initiative of the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley; PNC Financial Services; Just Born, Inc; The Harry C. Trexler Trust; Bethlehem Steel Corporation; Agere Systems; Air Products & Chemicals, Inc; Lehigh Valley Health Network; CoreStates Bank; and Binney & Smith, Inc (now “Crayola”).

For additional information, call Community Services for Children at 610-437-6000, x2113, or log onto www.cscinc.org/events.

Community Services for Children is a regional leader in early childhood education and family development, affecting the lives of 40,000 children annually.

3S33d_admin February 5th, 2013

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First Time Home Buyer’s Seminar Offered

Thinking about buying a home? Find out what you need to know!

Join us for this FREE Seminar.

Learn about: Preparing for Home Ownership, Obtaining a Mortgage, Establishing & Maintaining Good Credit, Shopping for a Home, Predatory Lending, Completing the Sale, Maintaining Your New Home.

To register and for more information, call 610-691-5620.

Seminar will be held at CSC in the Training Institute. Located in the Fowler Building, 1520 Hanover Avenue, Allentown

Program is sponsored by Community Action Financial Services – A program of the Community Action Committee of the LV.

Child care is NOT available

3S33d_admin January 30th, 2013

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PPL, PNC, American Bank support early ed

PPL Tax Credits Support Early Education Scholarships & Literacy Lab

Community Services for Children (CSC) is approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development as a Pre-Kindergarten Scholarship Organization. Qualifying businesses may give tax credits to CSC to disburse for students in high quality pre-k programs. These credits are known through the program Educational Investment Tax Credits (EITC).

PPL Electric Utilities Corp recently donated $45,000 to CSC for its scholarship organization. PPL Susquehanna, LLC, donated $75,000 to CSC’s scholarship organization. CSC will disburse scholarships to children enrolled in high quality pre-k programs which have earned the STAR 3 or STAR 4 quality designation, or are accredited by the national association for educating young children (NAEYC) or Middle States Commission on the Accreditation of Elementary Schools.

CSC is also designated to receive EITC funds through a second program called Educational Innovation Organization. CSC uses the EITC contributions to support an innovative early literacy program called The Literacy Lab. PPL Electric Utilities Corp also recently donated $35,000 to support the Literacy Lab. American Bank, PNC Bank, and New Enterprise Lime & Stone also recently provided additional funding. After three years of implementation, research demonstrates that the children involved in the Literacy Lab program achieve higher levels of proficiency in literacy and other areas of learning.

CSC is the region’s leader in early childhood education and family development, reaching 40,000 children in 13 counties annually. For further information, call Sara George, 610-437-6000, x2101.

3S33d_admin October 24th, 2012

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Donley Infant Center dedicated

Community Services for Children will dedicate its new treatment center for infants and toddlers who have been abused on Thursday, October 11, 2012, 5:00 – 6:30 pm. Honoring the generosity of the family toward a $3 million capital campaign, the new center will be named “The Donley Family Infant Center.”

Major donors will also be honored through the naming of rooms including the following: The Harry C. Trexler Trust, Mac and Becky Briggs, Air Products, PPL, The Century Fund, Alvin H. Butz, Andy and Carolyn Daub, Julius and Kathryn Hommer Foundation, Tony and Norene Salvaggio, and the Keystone Nazareth Charitable Foundation.

Barbara Fraust, chair of the Board, and Jane Ervin, CEO and President, Community Services for Children, will preside over the event, with comments from David and Kathy Leber, who have co-chaired the capital campaign. The Rev. Keith Brown will provide the benediction.

The Donley Family Infant Center provides the facility for the SafeStart program, the only program of its kind in Pennsylvania that treats babies exposed to drugs and alcohol prenatally.  SafeStart began 9 years ago. No children enrolled have experienced repeat incidence of abuse or neglect. At age 3, they enter Head Start to ensure they are ready for kindergarten. Their parents or other caregivers are involved in parenting skill development, rehab and counseling.

Community Services for Children believes that all children deserve a chance to succeed in school, which begins in early childhood within a nurturing family.  CSC is a regional leader in early childhood education, whose programs affect 40,000 children annually in 13 counties of Pennsylvania.

For information, contact the Development Office, 610-437-6000, x 2101.

3S33d_admin October 5th, 2012

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