D E S C R I P T I O N O
F P R O G R A M S A N D
O U R H I S T O R Y
The
Soho Center is a 501(c)(3) organization. We work to improve child
care,
children's education, and the health and well-being of children and
families by piloting a variety of innovative outreach, networking, and
training strategies utilizing person-to-person contact, videos, PSAs,
print, and the internet. The Soho Center collaborates with
numerous ducational and community-based non-profits, state and federal
agencies, corporations, and media professionals to bring high-quality
and much-needed resources to the public.
The Soho Center's major activities include -
Large-scale Children's Book Giveaways and Online Literacy
Advice
The
Soho Center promotes children's
literacy, school readiness, and school
success. This year, the Soho Center
gave away over 50,000 quality children's books to 1,000 Head Start
programs, UVa Children's Hospital, and other child-related sites (for
details, please click here). The Soho Center offers literacy information to parents,
providers, Head Start programs, child care centers, and
child-related organizations. To see our current Book Giveaway projects, Click Here.
The Soho Center invites corporations, foundations, and
the public to support this initiative.
Health Information Project
The
Soho Center identifies and publicizes reliable health and nutrition
resources to benefit children, families, and senior citizens.
Funded and supported by two Attorneys General, the
site www.vahealth.info is
routinely 2nd or 3rd out of 45 million on Google. The Soho Center
considers the current Virginia
Health Information Project site to be an important national
model. Soho is currently seeking corporate and/or foundation
support for the Virginia
Health Information Project site and to create
additional sites for every state so the public will have a reliable,
non-commercial, easy-to-navigate source for state and national health,
nutrition, and safety resources.
National
Children's
Literacy Information Project
The
Soho Center's NCLI Project helps parents of young children and the
child
care field enhance children's literacy, school readiness, and school
success. Soho's National Children's
Literacy Website gives the public useful literacy tips and advice. The National
Children's Literacy Website is
routinely in Google's Top Three for "children's literacy" out of 37 million on Google. The NCLI's Board of Advisors includes
nationally-known children's authors, illustrators, educators,
and librarians. The Soho Center is currently seeking
corporate and/or foundation support to produce and give away a series
of innovative "getting children ready to read" videos and related print
materials.
Model
Resource Library / Classroom
The
Soho Center maintains a model Resource Library of over 18,000
children's
books and educational materials for infants, pre-schoolers, and school-age
children. Our Resource Library also includes a large collection
of books on parent
education, child care, early childhood education, and elementary
education. We're currently expanding our facility. For an
update, Click
Here. We invite collaborations with agencies and
universities to develop and/or implement child-related, teacher, and
provider training and research intiatives utilizing our Resource
Library and model classroom facility.
Media
Technical Assistance / Broadcast
Quality Media Facility
The
Soho Center has an in-house media
facility to cost-effectively
support
our educational
outreach efforts. We also make this quality media facility available to other
non-profits to support their communications needs. Our facility is made
possible through generous donations from media and technology
sector companies, and we welcome production and post-production
equipment donations to expand our capabilities. If you have a project in mind, please call the Director at 540-923-5012.
Child
Care Training
The
Soho Center promotes professional development and training for child
care providers as well as Head Start and child care center
staffs. As funding allows, the Soho Center develops quality
training materials (long-form videos, newsletters, and directories) to
improve the quality of child care and after-school care and to promote
school readiness and school success. The Soho Center's training
initiatives provide information on child development, children's health
and safety, nutrition, literacy, and age-appropriate learning
activities.
REACH
Initiative for Family Child Care Providers
The
Soho Center pilots innovative and cost-effective outreach, networking,
and training strategies to surface unregulated child care providers and
improve child care for tens of thousands of children. The Soho Center
produced, successfully tested, and distributes a series
of radio and television Nutrition/Outreach
Public Service Announcements (see
below), the well-reviewed 25-minute The Business of Family
Child Care DVD, the National Child Care
Resource Directory (now in its 5th Edition), and quality
educational Newsletters
for
the child care field.
An Example of Soho's Media/Outreach Capabilities
The
Soho Center has used appealing and highly-produced A1-KIDS-1 television and radio
Public Service Announcements
(featuring Linda Ronstadt singing Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You) as well as
print
support to publicize the Child and Adult Care Food Program, a
federal program which is part of the National School Lunch Act.
The CACFP includes nutrition education and reimbursements to
participating family child care providers for the healthy meals and
snacks they serve children in their care. Research studies have linked
participation in the Food Program with higher quality child care.
To learn more about Soho's media/outreach capabilities, please Click Here.
Child-Related
Support Services
The
Soho Center distributes brochures on children's injury prevention,
discipline and limit-setting, nutrition, age-appropriate learning
activities, children's literacy, and health. As donations and/or
funding allow, the Soho Center also distributes free children's
clothing, safety equipment, and educational toys to low-income children
in Head Start programs and to low-income child care providers and
families. As funding allows, the Soho Center also gives away its
well-reviewed Business
of Family Child Care
DVD to public libraries, child-care related agencies, and providers.
The Soho Center invites corporations and foundations to support these
initiatives, and we welcome product donations from toy, clothing, and
safety equipment companies.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Soho Center's Early History
1 9 7 2 to 1 9 8 9
Jeanna Beker founded
the Soho Center in New York City in 1972, and she
continues as its Director. From 1972 to 1989, Ms. Beker's
major activities as the Soho Center's Director included -
Founding
the Soho Center, a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation.
The Soho Center's core program, The Children's Energy Center, was the
largest early childhood program in Manhattan with four
locations and a staff of 25 professionals. As part of its
educational mission, the Soho Center offered after-school arts
enrichment programs, including Suzuki violin,
gymnastics, pre-ballet, music, and puppet-making for pre-schoolers and
elementary school-aged children. And the Soho Center offered year-round
parent education seminars and discussion
groups. Ms. Beker, as the Soho Center's Director, worked
with four universities and colleges (New York University, LaGuardia
College, Pace University, and Hunter College) to train teachers from
their Child Development, Early Childhood Education, Elementary
Education, Arts Education, and Psychology Departments. Parents magazine featured the Soho
Center
in nationally distributed media as a model family and community
center.
Soho
Center's early childhood program in New York City was the site for
several research studies on children's development including a two year
study by
researchers from Columbia Teachers College of children's story-telling
and creative development. The Soho Center routinely hosted
visiting educators from across the country and from overseas.
Establishing
the United Nations Child Care Centre to serve UN diplomats and UN
employees. Based on the Soho Center's reputation for quality
children's programs, Ms. Beker was selected by a multi-national UN
Board of Advisors from 26
countries to design and equip the United Nations' model child care
facility for infants,
toddlers, and pre-schoolers and to implement its educational programs -
including admission and educational policies and the hiring of senior
staff.
Co-founding
the Downtown Schools Association of private and public elementary
schools, day care centers, and nursery schools in Manhattan.
Co-founding the Association For Parent
Education made up of 35 member agencies throughout the greater New
York/New Jersey area.
Consulting
in the educational toy field, including with Johnson & Johnson on prototypes
for
infant/toddler toys and with the Toy
Manufacturers of America for
field-testing of pre-school toys.
Member
of Board of Advisors of the Early Childhood Resource and Information
Center (a special branch of the New York Public
Library).
Working
with the New York State Department of Education on preliminary plans
for a Resource & Referral Service on parent education programs.
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