Paramount Unified School District

Ready by Five
The purpose of this grant is to promote the idea of school readiness by creating centers and programs that offer an array of services, including early care and education, health and social services, parenting education and support. Programs will be responsive to local needs and will contain elements to improve schools' readiness for children.  The target population of this program is children 0-5 and their families in the 90723 of Los Angeles County. The Paramount community is a high need area, predominantly Latino with a high percentage of low-income families with children ages 0 to 5.  Major community concerns are the lack of families with medical insurance and appropriate medical care, the lack of preschool slots and exposure to early learning experience, low reading levels of third grade students, and a need for coordination of community services.  In this community 44% of children come from a single parent household, the poverty rate 84%, 73% of residents are Latino. 60% of adults are uninsured and  54% of mothers did not graduate from high school. This program is located in SPA 6.  The primary programs site is Gaines Child Development Center.  All School Readiness grants are 48 months in length across 5 fiscal years.  Major program activities include: four new preschool classes allowing for a total of 100 new slots for children ages 3 to 5, Parents as Teachers (PAT) Home visitation program for 40 families per year dental services, insurance enrollment, health screening services, and counseling/parent support groups all provided on-site to PUSD preschoolers and 20 targeted community childcare programs, increase of preschool and kindergarten teacher meetings from twice a year to twice a month.