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Our Residents

Please help Talk/Read/Succeed! with a donation to Valley Gives on 12.12.13

Please help Talk/Read/Succeed! with a donation to Valley Gives on 12.12.13

Donate to Valley Gives on 12.12.13

What you can do:

1)      Visit to Springfield Housing Authority’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SpringfieldHousingAuthority?ref=hl and both ‘like’ and ‘share’ the Talk/Read/Succed! entry on Valley Gives.

2)      Tell your friends about Valley Gives, the online giving website on 12.12.13.

3)      Go to http://valleygives.razoo.com/ on 12.12.13 and make a donation to Talk/Read/Succeed!

VG logoT/R/S! helps families promote early literacy

Kelly Robblets knows exactly what Talk/Read/Succeed! has done for her family, and it’s all good.

The 28-year-old mother of two young children as participated in the family-focused early literacy program since it began three years ago at Springfield Housing Authority’s Sullivan Apartments and Robinson Gardens Apartments, where she lives.

The program unites the family housing developments with their feeder elementary schools, Boland and Dorman, along with two dozen local agencies, organizations and groups, to help  get children reading on level by the end of grade three.

For Robblets, that has meant meaningful programs such as parenting classes for herself and her husband, weekly play groups for her four-year-old daughter Trinity Cousin, baby sessions with one-year-old Gabriel Cousin, and regular family gatherings that focus on parenting, literacy-based play and reading.

“T/R/S! has helped me a lot,” Robblets said. “The parenting group helped me learn how to deal with family issues that come up. The playgroup has really helped my daughter open up with other children. Everything we’ve done has been good.”

Robinson Gardens resident Kelly Robblets holds her children, Trinity Cousin, 4, and Gabriel Cousin, 1.

Robinson Gardens resident Kelly Robblets holds her children, Trinity Cousin, 4, and Gabriel Cousin, 1.

She has even started GED classes to resume her formal education, after more than a decade away from the classroom. It’s something that she’s wanted for a long time, but couldn’t see how to do it until T/R/S! outreach coordinators Lynne Cimino and Zenaida Burgos gave her the tools, and the confidence, that she needed.

“I want to do this for myself, and for my children,” Robblets said. “I want to be a good example for them.”

Robblets is one of 185 families who participate in this progressive program modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City. T/R/S! was featured recently as the cover story in the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials Journal as an example of how public housing authorities can promote education and independence.

Organizations key to invoved in T/R/S! include the SHA, the Springfield School Department, the Springfield Education Association, the United Way of Pioneer Valley, the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, the Behavioral Health Network and the Hasbro Summer Learning Imitative. The summer learning program has shown particular success in boosting children’s reading levels during a time when many fall behind.

T/R/S! is in need of funding to continue its work. Please visit the www.Razoo.com website and make a donation on 12.12.13.

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