Program Active 2006-2009

Based on the previously funded 11 community-based projects of Enhancing the Skills of Parents Program I, the Foundation has made a four-year commitment to Enhancing the Skills of Parents Program II (ESPP II). We released a new Request for Proposal (RFP) in August 2005. The overall purpose of the program is to assist communities in strengthening family-focused programs that enhance the skills of parents with children from birth to 8 years of age in rural Oregon and Siskiyou County, California. The Foundation recognizes the many challenges that parents face today as the social and economic fabric of our rural communities continues to change. We also recognize that parents are their child’s first and most important teachers. Substantial research shows that effective parental nurturing and support during the early childhood years greatly increases a child’s physical and emotional well-being, language and emergent literacy skills and competencies, and assures school readiness and success.

Goals Over a four year period, the overall goals of the Enhancing the Skills of Parents Program II (ESPP II) are:

• To further validate that parents play the primary role in the care, nurturing, and development of their children in their first years.
• To better equip parents to nurture their children using parent education curriculum that is evidence-based and proven to be effective.
• To recognize that 90% of a child’s brain growth occurs by age six validating the need for parents to use the best parenting practices and early childhood development strategies to assure the child is ready for school and has the potential to develop fully as a productive citizen.
• To provide communities with an important educational opportunity that could lead to the reduction of the number of parents citied for abuse and neglect of their children.
• To set into motion a community-wide effort to increase effective parenting practices to assist in the decrease of the number of children that are “not ready” to begin kindergarten.
• To strengthen the effectiveness of parents by providing parenting education programs that focus on using proven parenting practices for all parents.

ESPP Projects Eighteen ESPP II projects have been selected to receive four years of funding. Assistance will be provided to these projects with performance measurement and research-based programming. An external organization will be engaged by the Foundation to lead this cluster evaluation.

Each project has been selected based on their proposal to meet the criteria for the Enhancing the Skills of Parents Program II.

To review or download the complete RFP click here.

A team of Foundation staff and external experts read all qualified proposals submitted to the Foundation. Proposals were evaluated on the following criteria:

• Community based collaboration of at least 3 organizations and/or agencies and a school must be involved in the planning and committed to the implementation of the program.
• Parenting education curriculum to be used must be clearly identified. The curriculum should be evidence-based or using evidence-based principles.
• All grantee organizations must have a 501(c)(3) IRS tax exempt status or be an educational institution or faith-based organization.
• All grantees must be in rural communities located in Oregon or Siskiyou County, California with populations under 30,000 and not adjacent to or part of a metropolitan areas, where other resources may be available.
• Proposals that are complete and contain all requested information and attachments will be reviewed.
• Proposals that have the greatest potential for effectively reaching primarily those parents with children from birth to 8 years of age will be considered.
• Proposals that incorporate significant community and organizational support (cash, and/or in-kind resources, volunteer hours, etc.) will be favored.
• The percentage of community and organization support (cash and/or in-kind resources) should be at least 25% of the total budget.
• The feasibility of future sustainability, beyond The Ford Family Foundation four-year grant period will be important.

The external evaluation for the Enhancing the Skills of Parents Program II (ESPP II) is being conducted by an impartial organization, Oregon State University. This evaluation will include organizing conferences for project coordinators to network and share in a supportive environment. These conferences will focus on leadership, communications and evaluation of each project.

If you have questions, comments or would like additional information about the Enhancing the Skills of Parents Program (ESPP II), please feel free to call or email any of the following contacts :