More than 60 kids danced, sang and listened to a story in English and Spanish on Monday during the first session of a summer program that brings learning opportunities to underserved families with young children in the Elgin area.
Enriching Partnerships for Early Learning’s Learning On the Go kicked off its ninth year Monday at Cornerstone Park in Elgin.
Cornerstone is one of five neighborhood parks and schools — three in Elgin and one each in Hanover Park and Streamwood — where the program meets to provide family engagement and early learning opportunities for kids up to age five and sometimes beyond.
“Our role is to engage the families, to inform, equip and support them,” said Amber Peters, executive director of EPEL. “We want to give them whatever they need to have children ready for kindergarten.”
EPEL is a nonprofit organization that partners with other area stakeholders to provide resources and early childhood initiatives for families with children younger than 5 years old.
The eight-week program features a basic theme each week with a gift to take home, such as art materials or seeds, a watering can or a weekly book the kids can pick out that is available in either English or Spanish.
Kids at Enriching Partnerships for Early Learning’s Learning On the Go session on Monday put chalk they were given to good use at Cornerstone Park in Elgin.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
On the first visit on Monday, kids received a bag full of early learning materials they could use for the rest of the season. They also did movement activities, listened to a bilingual reading of “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” and covered the nearby sidewalks in colorful art.
Representatives and resources from local groups like Centro de Informacion, St. Paul’s Diaper Distribution, Elgin Area School District U-46 and the Gail Borden Library were there to help parents with programs for their families.
Lunch is provided at some sites for the kids, and the Northern Illinois Food Bank was there Monday to provide food for families.
Sites and program days and times are available on the EPEL website at elginpartnership.org/. The program runs through the week of July 21.
Peters said more than 200 kids and family members visited program sites each week last summer. The locations are picked each year based on community data about families who might not be accessing resources like child care, health care and the library.
“It builds because it’s very organic, which is exciting,” Peters said. “Your best marketing tool is the families.”
While the hourlong visit is fun and educational for the kids, Peters said the focus is on the whole family.
“This program is really about the parents,” Peters said. “It’s modeling learning opportunities for the parents to provide for their children that they can do at home and don’t cost a lot of money.”
