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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.





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Soho Center's Early History
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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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