C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP 

C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP © 2008 Fred L Nance Jr.

www.clickservices.org

Fred L Nance Jr., President & CEO

Vision

C.L.I.C.K.'s vision is to empower and enhance the lives of people that are disengaged from the mainstream of our social order due to lifestyles created by cultural disadvantages and disenfranchisement.

Mission

C.L.I.C.K.'s mission is to explore the cultural disadvantages and disenfranchisement of people to provide evidence-based comprehensive and optimal human services to enhance their communities, to deter community deterioration and to embrace wellness and education, which will inherently bring wholeness and good mental health, improving the social and psychological functioning of children, adults and their families. This mission promotes and has at its core a philosophy of no more victims.

Purpose

C.L.I.C.K. is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational and scientific purposes under section 501(c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.

C.L.I.C.K. is a public charity. C.L.I.C.K.'s charitable status includes, but is not limited to, mentoring, relief of the poor, the distressed or the underprivileged lessening the burdens of government, lessening neighborhood tensions, eliminating prejudice and discrimination, defending human and civil rights secured by law, and combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency with habilitative and rehabilitative services.

C.L.I.C.K. will comprehensively and holistically provide evidence-based mentoring, social/human services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children, adolescents, adults and their families.

C.L.I.C.K. will provide and/or link the individual, the group, and/or the family in crisis toward optimal care, prevention and intervention with mentoring, social and academic services (G.E.D. and College), which will increase their transferrable or transitioning skills to obtain meaningful employment and adequate education, possibly leading to self-sufficiency, self-efficacy and self-worth.

The Founder

The President & CEO and Founder of C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP, Fred Nance Jr., received his Bachelor degree in Social Science, and his Master degree in Community Counseling from Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois. He is a PhD candidate with Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Nance’s doctoral studies are in the discipline of Human Services with a focus on Social Policy Analysis and Planning. Mr. Nance will receive his doctoral degree in the fall/winter of 2008. The general focus of his doctoral studies has been toward advocating for the socially disenfranchised and disadvantaged. Mr. Nance has examined and studied social theoretical constructs, conducted research on policy issues and professional practices in societal and human development, organizational leadership, social systems and ethics.

Many of C.L.I.C.K.’s detailed evidence-based narrative services will be duplicated among all programs in order to provide optimal and comprehensive mentoring and human/social services to its proposed population.

1.  Detailed Narrative Description of Programs

I.          Juvenile and Adult Offenders Re-entry Program

The United States has no effective system or method for reintegrating the ex-offenders returning to their communities every year. In 2003, the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) released nearly 38,000 offenders. These parolees, most with limited, if any, work experience had low educational attainment and substance abuse problems. Some had no place to live, along with other impediments to becoming productive members of society, and having few resources to support their reentry into the community.

It was estimated that 44% of all IDOC incarcerated individuals will return to IDOC within 3 years. The current rate of recidivism for IDOC is calculated at 54.4% for adults and 43.1% for juveniles. This cycle of incarceration, release and re-incarceration must be broken.

In order to heal individuals and communities that have been impacted by criminal behavior, IDOC is working toward developing a system-wide approach toward transitional reentry of offenders. The Second Chance Act of 2007, whose chief sponsor is the Honorable Congressman Danny K. Davis, and the report from the Community Safety and Reentry Commission appointed by the Honorable Governor Rod R. Blagojevich suggests alternative methods for addressing the plight of communities due to recidivism. The method and approach provides a comprehensive and optimal process that, when implemented, balances the ex-offender’s needs with restorative justice, thus ensuring for the overall safety of the community and its residents. C.L.I.C.K.’s juvenile and adult offenders re-entry program will be designed to mirror the essence of the Second Chance Act of 2007 to assist in addressing the revolving criminal justice door, the cycle of crime and public safety with intervention and prevention to help close the gaps post-incarcerated individuals face, through a seamless service delivery system designed and tailored to meet each person’s needs.

C.L.I.C.K.’s primary focus will be to provide an affordable and adequate sober living environment to post-incarcerated juvenile and adult offenders who have been involved in substance abuse programs while incarcerated. C.L.I.C.K. will also provide this sober living environment to individuals suffering from substance abuse and alcoholism coming from other social/human services programs. C.L.I.C.K. will acquire and develop suitable housing to meet the standards of licensing requirements of the State of Illinois. The average length of stay for the participants will be 90 days. Extended stay will depend on the participants’ level of need.

C.L.I.C.K. acknowledges the need for sober living environments. Assimilation back into the mainstream of society is not only important for the participants but also for the families of the participants in a recovery home process. Given the cycle of short prison stays of incarcerated participants, with few opportunities for substantive treatment or rehabilitation programming while incarcerated, the need to develop some type of community-based programming for these released inmates is critical to the long-term improvement in prison outcomes in Illinois. To this end, C.L.I.C.K. will offer its program for sober living environments processes, possibly alleviating and/or deterring substance abuse, alcoholism and recidivism.

C.L.I.C.K.’s sober living environment will provide screening of all admissions for substance abuse problems using the Texas Christian University’s (TCU) Drug Screen II. C.L.I.C.K. will assess employment skills, experience and educational achievements. C.L.I.C.K. will identify treatment needs and treatment plans will be developed. C.L.I.C.K. will adopt Therapeutic Community (TC) concepts and treatment paradigms.

C.L.I.C.K. will offer substance abuse treatment, including but not limited to, encounter groups, cognitive self-change groups and group and individual counseling discussing anger management, parenting skills and family reunification. C.L.I.C.K. will develop aftercare plans with the participant, engaging treatment, education/vocational, housing, employment and other needs for discharge into the communities of their choice.

C.L.I.C.K. will provide referrals to other community organizations, thus bridging the gaps, to include continued clinical appropriate treatment and educational/vocational programming. C.L.I.C.K. will attempt to track the consumer for a period of 2 years to assess continuity of services and outcomes.

C.L.I.C.K.’s evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies will focus on addressing and assisting the post-incarcerated individual in resolving the issues surrounding substance abuse and alcoholism, not simply seeking the symptoms of it all. The post-incarcerated individual will participate in education and lectures along with addiction counseling in both one-on-one and small group settings working towards continued recovery. Regardless of a person’s drug of choice, that is, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, meth, narcotic opiates like vicodin, oxycontin, methadone, methamphetamines, stimulants, ecstasy, club drugs, inhalants or any other dangerous illegal drug, prescription drug, or controlled substances, C.L.I.C.K.’s recovery substance abuse treatment will teach positive motivation, responsibility, spirituality, restorative justice and a lifestyle free from drug and alcohol abuse.

C.L.I.C.K.’s philosophy will center on the disease of alcoholism and other dependencies as being treatable conditions. In addition, C.L.I.C.K. will provide continuous and lasting recovery skills to possibly alleviate one from a hopeless state of body and mind that result from active alcoholism or drug addiction. C.L.I.C.K. believes each person recovers holistically when they have an individualized treatment plan, which will be formulated by our multi-disciplinary staff with input from the consumer. Every consumer will be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. C.L.I.C.K. believes being part of the group dynamic that supports other men and women in their journey to become clean and sober, offering the opportunity to experience a healthy community.

C.L.I.C.K.’s primary objective will be to provide optimal care, which should be cost efficient. The consumer will be encouraged to utilize the tools given to become well and whole. C.L.I.C.K.’s treatment philosophy will engage the principals of 12 step programs such as AA, NA, and Alanon, which will allow the consumer and their families to live a life of sobriety.

II.        Second Chance Homes

C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP will establish evidence-based Second Chance Homes, that is, residential housing for homeless and/or at-risk pregnant and parenting teens within the context of a Continuum of Care and Community Bridging model for residents of Illinois. The facilities, supportive mentoring services group homes and apartment clusters, will be safe and stable adult supervised sober living environments with a special focus on inner-city communities preparing teens for parenting and independent living.

In addition, C.L.I.C.K. will offer emotional support and nurturing care to teen families through various mentoring programs. The Second Chance Homes will provide for the immediate physical needs of the pregnant and parenting teens, that is, food, shelter and teaching for basic transferrable and transitioning living and employment skills. C.L.I.C.K. will also provide independent and transitional scattered supportive residential housing for the homeless pregnant and parenting teens that graduate from the group homes and apartment clusters.

The Second Chance Homes will provide wraparound mentoring services upon entry into the program, such as linkages to childcare off-site (15% of the time); linkages to pre-GED, GED, and higher learning schools of education and centers (20% of the time); counseling and linkages to therapy, on- and off-site case management services (20% of the time); on-site parenting and life skills classes; on- and off-site employment training and employment services (20% of the time); building transferrable and transitioning employment and activities for daily living skills bridging and linking to off-site health care (10% of the time); and on- and off-site pregnancy prevention and intervention services and referrals (15% of the time).

The program activities should assist in building self-sufficiency and self-efficacy and self-worth. This at-risk population of teen mothers who may not be able to live at home because of their pregnancy, birth of a child, abuse, neglect or substance abuse will be encouraged to acquire basic transferrable and transitioning skills for parenting, creating a safe and stable environment for their children. Trained staff will monitor and mentor all Second Chance Homes of C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP on-site, and will facilitate a sign-in and –out sheet to monitor movement off-site.

Second Chance Homes will keep teen families together and out of foster care, shelters for homeless teen families and assist teens to meet TANF requirements. This program may be funded by local, state and federal funding due to the importance the government has put on housing the homeless, and possibly ending homelessness in ten years. This program will be an asset to the community, in that, it will provide needed affordable housing, transferrable and transitioning education and employment training that will combat the complex interplay of structural trends such as: reductions in the availability of low-cost housing; net losses in employment and employment related benefits income due to economic changes such as deindustrialization, erosion of the real dollar value of public entitlements and narrowing of benefits eligibility criteria.

C.L.I.C.K. will work with community organizations, schools and policy makers in understanding the need for structures such as C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP. This plan is congruent with the National Alliance to End Homelessness and its ten-year plan. The four core components to this program: housing- education- employment- and mentoring plan for: transferrable and transitioning outcomes, closing the front door to homelessness through prevention, opening the back door from homelessness by streamlining the processes of re-housing and strengthening the web of community mentoring supports to keep people housed.

III.       Interim and Permanent Residential Housing for the Homeless

C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP will provide evidence-based interim and permanent supportive residential housing and mentoring for homeless or at-risk of being homeless males and females, enjoining a Continuum of Care model and the collaborative plan to end homelessness, preventing homelessness whenever possible; rapidly re-housing people when homelessness cannot be prevented; and providing wraparound mentoring services upon entry into the program that promote housing stability and self-sufficiency.

The interim supportive housing will provide for the immediate physical needs of homeless or at-risk of being homeless, such as food and shelter, teaching basic transferrable and transitioning living skills for approximately 120 days. The scattered independent and permanent residential housing will be affordable with community resources and the mentoring supports needed to sustain it.

There will also be group homes and apartment clusters that will be safe and stable adult supervised sober living environments for youth 17 to 25. C.L.I.C.K. will also provide independent scattered permanent residential housing for those who graduate from the group homes and apartment clusters. All of the housing will have a special focus on inner-city community re-building. Trained staff will monitor all interim and permanent supportive housing of C.L.I.C.K., and will facilitate a sign-in and –out sheet to monitor movement off-site.

C.L.I.C.K. will provide wraparound mentoring services that promote housing stability and self-sufficiency, such as on- and off-site linkages to pre-GED, GED and higher learning schools education and centers (20% of the time); counseling and linkages to therapy, on- and off-site case management services (25% of the time); on- and off-site life skills (25% of the time); on- and off-site employment training and linkages to employment services (20% of the time); and bridging and linking to off-site health care (10% of the time) as one is taught transferrable and transitioning activities for daily living.

The residential program activities will assist in building self-sufficiency, self-efficacy and self-worth. The activities will also assist in addressing various human vulnerabilities focusing on improving the quality of mentoring social networks and support systems, as well as preserving, enhancing and restoring basic feelings and thoughts of self-worth. C.L.I.C.K. will assist in empowering young homeless people to maintain control over their lives while illustrating to them that there is hope for the future.

This program may be funded by local, state, federal and in-kind dollars due to the importance the government has put on housing the homeless, and possibly ending homelessness in ten years. This program will be an asset to the community, in that, it will provide a safe haven for the homeless, needed affordable housing, transferrable and transitioning educational and employment training that will combat the complex interplay of structural trends such as: reductions in the availability of low-cost housing; net losses in employment and employment related benefits income due to economic changes such as deindustrialization, erosion of the real dollar value of public entitlements and narrowing of benefits eligibility criteria. This will further our exempt status as we work with community organizations, schools and policy makers in understanding the need for structures such as C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP.

This plan is congruent with the National Alliance to End Homelessness and its ten-year plan. The four core components to this program are planning for outcomes, closing the front door to homelessness through prevention, opening the back door from homelessness by streamlining the process of re-housing and strengthening the web of community supports to keep people housed furthering the exempt status of C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP.

IV.       24-Hour Childcare Program

C.L.I.C.K.’s primary focus is to provide evidence-based comprehensive and optimal human services to enhance communities. A primary determinant for progress and appropriate outcomes, following the philosophy of the company, is to provide a service with affordable fees. C.L.I.C.K.’s 24-hour childcare program (The Program) will address the needs of children and assist in their developmental stages of life.

Self-preservation, the storing up of experiences and the adaptation to social, educational and employment environments, through observation and reality testing, will be the front-running design of the program. This program will allow parents and caregivers to have employment opportunities 24-7. A parent or caregiver will be able to work any shift of the day. This program will also allow parents and caregivers to attend other relaxing and enjoyable activities conducive to well-being for both the child and parent.

A supportive team of well-trained and educated staff of professionals will initiate and maintain parent-child relationships. The program will offer evidence-based activities geared toward physical, psychosocial, language and communication, and cognitive development that will enhance the philosophy and goal of wellness and education.

C.L.I.C.K. will comprehensively and holistically provide evidence-based best practices, mentoring and current human services, that is, developmental and educational programs, and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children, adults and their families. C.L.I.C.K. will maximize and utilize existing and newly created schools of thought in psychological, physiological and ecological standing for promoting child care through wellness and education.

The Program will enhance the quality of life for children, fostering self-esteem and self-worth, focusing on cultural identities and developmental support. Education and early training in “at risk” development will be examined toward well-functioning children. The Program will focus on the human development stages of life and the design shall accommodate children ages 2-12. Infant and toddler classrooms will be constructed, along with a host of mentoring activities for all the children in the program.

The Program evidence-based design and implementation in the community will explore avenues toward long-term goals for self-sufficiency, self-efficacy and self-worth. This “high quality” program will promote transferrable and transitional education and self-awareness to cultural desires and needs. The Program will collaborate with existing social service agencies for linkages to external and/or extensions to programmatic-bridging of diverse cultural experiences and early childhood development. The Program will engage in the acquisition of internships with the City Colleges of Chicago, along with the various four (4) year Universities operating in and around the City of Chicago that offer early childhood education courses.

Objectives of The Program will be to design an evidence-based “high quality” child care program, focusing on comprehensive and optimal human development and education, to consider family ideologies and community-bridging in the structuring and implementation of programming and direction; to seek and acquire funding from the government, as well as from private donors; to accommodate affordable fees for low-income families; and to explore social concerns of the community, with a commitment to the family for short- and long-term outcomes.

The goals will be designed around the basic growth areas of social-emotional, cognitive, language and physical development. Behavioral objectives will serve as indicators for the effectiveness of the goals. Early childhood programs are generally based on the same discipline areas accepted in the rest of education. The focus areas are: Communication, Language Arts, Health and Safety, English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. The needs of the individual child as well, as the group, are considered in the planning aspect of development and the program.

Child care is a necessary element to human development. 0-5 may be the most important stage of this development. How a child is nurtured and cared for may have a tremendous affect upon their future goals and desires. Social and moral structure may be a determinant in fostering wellness and self-efficacy. With a focus on low-income families, the Program will provide safe havens; fostering self-esteem and strong cultural identities, along with helping children overcome academic deficits.

Human development is continuous. Early childhood development is designed to yield a well-rounded human being. The early years lay the foundation for the child’s later cognitive achievements, mastery of social skills and emerging sense of self-sufficiency, self-efficacy, self-esteem, self-worth and respect for others. Physical, intellectual and social learning occur together as a baby and caregiver go through a day’s routine, talking, exploring their world, playing and cuddling. Important aspects of social and emotional mastery such as curiosity, task persistence, adaptability and self-control take root in the rich soil of these early experiences.

Physical development may be increased markedly or limited by the environment the child is accustomed too. The Program will plot a course of action, in accordance with parent agreements, to ensure short- and long-term outcomes of success are achieved in childcare, educational and mentoring support, and recreation and youth development. Attendance will be monitored and a schedule of activities will be developed. Where delay and impairment is evident, trained professionals will assist in strategic pursuit of avenues to alleviate further obstruction leading to wellness and self-efficacy.

Psychosocial development will be addressed. Children are active and curious explorers and learners who adapt to their environments through cultural influences, while coping with social realities. The pressures of tradition and the limitation of opportunity has forced many to identify with its own identity fragments, thus jeopardizing whatever participation in an American identity it may have earned. This cycle may be broken with the assistance of a well-developed “high quality” child care program. Identity, self-perception/deception and autonomy will bridge the gap for the stages of psychosocial development.

Language and communication skills are very important. Classrooms will be set up for the population of The Program to facilitate these skills. Professional educators will be employed to assist in this development. Human adjustments with learned and unlearned responses, whether they are explicit or implicit, will be observed and examined in all children for deficiencies. According to social learning theory, modeling influences produces learning and this learning by reinforcement and the processes of responses. This modeling will be one of the assets and attributes displayed by the staff of The Program.

There will be curriculum and social development planning. Areas for curriculum and development are: (1) emotional, such as self-awareness, self-concept, sense of family, self-care, self-responsibility, self-control, attention span, completing a task, smooth transitions and delayed gratification; (2) social, such as parallel play, cooperative play, dramatic play, role playing, communication with adults/peers, listening to adults/peers, cleanliness/health/safety, sense of community, cultural awareness, responsible use of materials, etiquette and sharing/taking turns; (3) physical, such as body awareness, gross motor coordination, fine motor coordination, eye/hand coordination and eye/foot coordination; (4) senses, such as music appreciation, visual memory, auditory memory, and color discrimination, music involvement, creative expression, tasting and smelling and tactile awareness; (5) cognitive, such as nature appreciation, numbers concepts, special concepts, conception of time, visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, language development and following directions.

Emotional development will focus on self-awareness, self-concepts, sense of family, self-care, self-responsibility, self-control, attention span, completing task, smooth transitions and delayed gratifications. The purpose of this activity is to provide ego integrity. This will imply participation by follower-ship as well as acceptance of the responsibility of leadership. If one cannot follow, how can they lead? 20% of resources and time of The Program will be devoted to this activity.

Social development will focus on parallel play, dramatic play, cooperative play, role playing, communication with adults/peers, listening to adults/peers, cleanliness/health/safety, sense of community, cultural awareness, responsible use of materials, etiquette and sharing/taking turns. The purpose of this activity is to assail stimuli on the outside and inside of the body. Learning by experience at an early age enables the individual to acquire large integrated patterns of behavior. 20% of resources and time of The Program will be devoted to this activity.

Physical development will focus on body awareness, gross/fine motor coordination, eye/hand and eye/foot coordination. The purpose of this activity is to provide information and care for child health education, leading toward well-being. 10% of resources and time of The Program will be devoted to this activity.

Sense development will focus on music appreciation, visual memory, auditory memory, color discrimination, music involvement, creative expression, tasting and smelling and tactile awareness. The purpose of this activity is to store-up experiences. This activity may bring about expedient changes in an individual’s external world. 20% of resources and time of The Program will be devoted to this activity.

Cognitive development is a system of reflexes depending on acquired habits and associations. The purpose allows intellectual activity of the individual to adapt to the environment. This activity will focus on nature appreciation, numbers concepts, special concepts, conception of time, visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, language development and following directions. The cognitive development of intelligence and its contact with reality is an adaptation of the child’s environment. The Program’s environment will assist the parent-child relationship to foster meaningful goals that meet the ideals, values and desires of the cultural experiences of the child. Experiences of both girls and boys in school and other activities shape development. 30% of the resources and time of The Program will be devoted to these activities.

Additionally, language arts study with a facilitation of expressive and receptive vocabulary will be explored. Through mathematics and science study, abstract thinking will be developed. The use of senses is essential as the individual explores materials in order to grasp ideas. Through social studies the individual will learn about themselves, appearance, ethnic groups and feelings.

All activities will be performed daily. Activities will take place at a prescribed site for The Program and in the community. A team of highly trained professionals, in accordance with existing laws, will administer The Program.

The strongest method for assessing long-term outcomes is to randomly assign young children to groups that do or do not receive the “special” program services and then to follow the development of both groups of children over time. Most of the studies of child-focused early childhood programs have examined program effects on children’s cognitive and social development.  Participation in early childhood programs can result in intelligence quotient gains. Pre-school improves children’s ability to think and reason as they enter “regular” school, enabling them to learn more in the early grades. Recent studies of the short-term effects of child care have shown that poor-quality programs have negative affects on children’s play and relationships with their caregivers.

A host of developmental screening instruments will be available to determine a child’s ability in the attainment of their objectives and goals. They are: (1) The Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale – designed to measure the cognitive development of children from one to thirty months; (2) The Full Range Picture Vocabulary Test – designed to measure receptive vocabulary; (3) The McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities – designed to assess verbal, perceptual performance, quantitative, memory and motor in cognitive levels of skills for children thirty months and eight years; (4) The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – designed to measure intelligence via assessment of receptive vocabulary to children age two years and older; (5) Pictorial Test of Intelligence – designed to assess intelligence of children three to eight years in seven areas: picture vocabulary, form discrimination, information and comprehension, similarities, size and number, immediate recall, and total performance; (6) The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Ten subtests measure the intelligence of children aged four to six-and-one-half years; (7) The Bayley Scales of Infant Development – measures the mental and psychomotor development of children two to thirty months; (8) The Psycho-Educational Evaluation of the Preschool Child – designed to be used in conjunction with other standardized tests. Assesses development in the areas of physical and sensory growth, perception, memory, language, and cognition; (9) The Denver Developmental Screening Test – helps to identify children at risk for developmental delay and behavioral problems; and (10) The Gessell Developmental Schedules – assesses the developmental status of children one month to six years of age in the areas of motor, adaptive, language and personal skills.

Monthly and daily calendars, along with scheduling sheets of program curriculum and development will be required of all programming staff in achieving the objectives and goals of parents and The Program in the use of these instruments. Parental authorization to use these instruments will be mandatory and part of acceptance to the program.

Children who are in “high-quality” programs are more likely to be emotionally secure, proficient in language use, able to regulate aggressiveness and cognitively advanced, at least in the short term. High-quality care is especially important for children from low-income families. Studies of early-intervention programs for children from disadvantaged families indicate that children in child care may demonstrate long-term benefits as well, including enhanced school achievement, decreased placements in special education programs, higher life-time earnings and decreased involvement with the criminal justice system.

In short, child care helps parents reach and maintain economic self-sufficiency. It helps business expand and increase the stability of the current labor pool and build the next generation’s labor pool. It helps society as a whole by preparing children to become productive citizens. Families, businesses and government all benefit from childcare, so they should continue and expand their existing commitment to it.

Like other Americans, low-income parents aspire that their children will grow up and lead mainstream lives. However, youth growing up in impoverished, inner-city neighborhoods face obstacles to conventional development. No one recognizes better than inner-city parents how pervasively the neighborhood around them shapes the lives of young people.

Inner-city neighborhoods provide limited economic, institutional and social resources for the families and adolescents living there. Social relations on the street are characterized by an individualistic, competitive and predatory ethos, where “hustling” and “getting over” are valid ways of securing scarce resources. Most inner-city parents reject the street subculture. To combat the deleterious effects of living in an inner-city neighborhood, effective parents should (1) use stringent monitoring strategies, (2) seek out local and extra local resources, and (3) utilize in-home learning strategies.

Parents receive their first impressions of The Program when they scrutinize The Program during the selection process. Similarly, when a child is enrolled in The Program, the staff has the opportunity to collect an extensive body of information about the child and his/her family. Policies and procedures of The Program, along with the responsibilities parents will incur in connection with the child’s participation in the program will be made clear. Parental involvement will be part of the criteria for enrollment.

Parent-child relationships will be observed and welcomed. Parental involvement will be established in the interest of the child, and in particular, individualized goals of the parents for their child. Encouragement toward this involvement will provide a sense of community-bridging, which may lead to a comprehensive and optimal relationship between the community and the family. It is important for all programs to foster a positive emotional climate in which children know they are valued, respected and liked.

Grants and funding will be accessed through state and federal programs for the cognitive and educational development of children. New models of financing will be acquired to present affordable fees for the children. One such funder, the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), funds childcare subsidies to help low-income families pay for care. With funding programs like the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, school systems will have the responsibility for determining how, where and by whom out-of-school time programs will be offered.

All levels of government provide funding for childcare, with the federal government providing the greatest percentage. Six (6) direct-subsidy programs for poor and working poor families are (Head Start, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, Title IV-A “At Risk,” the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Family Support Act/JOBS child care dollars, and Transitional Child Care) and two primary tax-based subsidies for childcare, The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) and the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP).

Funding programs of this nature will be utilized to assist in childcare payments and subsidies for eligible caregivers and children of The Program. This is not an exhaustive list for The Program. All government and private funding sources for childcare programs will be exhausted.

Most funding sources hope to promote learning, while others seek to protect children from hazards on the streets or to keep them from risky experimentation. C.L.I.C.K. will recommend the community continue its advocacy and public education efforts to strengthen the willingness of voters to support the use of government resources to address children’s out-of-school time; and. locally, undertake community planning efforts to identify needs, establish priorities, mobilize resources and guide investments to create a community in which children can thrive.

Parents, government, business and philanthropy currently share the burden of paying for childcare services. These shared commitments are appropriate because the ability of childcare to all promote child development, which facilitate parental employment benefits to families, business and society. However, a greater public investment is necessary because, in the long run, society generally benefits most from childcare.

There are four basic concerns for staffing a “high-quality” program: (1) staff-child ratio; (2) qualified staff, which includes educational background and experience; (3) recognition of (employment and personal references) competency and performance in related fields of study and work; and (4) the state of being attached to the employee.

Staff development for The Program will require staff to attend and/or apply to employment related knowledge seminars and conferences, updating of credentials and licensing, continuing education credits, along with developing good written and oral communication skills, goal setting skills, ability to accept and delegate authority, along with displaying interest/initiative/motivation toward the parent-child relationship.

In order to find and keep qualified staff one must invest in efforts to conceptualize the skills required for professional work with school-age children; to create tailored training courses and degree programs; and to design career ladder links increasing compensation to increased qualifications.

Group size and Staff Requirements (depending on current evidence-based, scholarly literature):

Age of Children                                    Staff/Child                                Maximum

                                                                 Ratio                                        Group Size

Two years                                             1 to 8                                             5

Three years                                          1 to 10                                           5

Four years                                            1 to 10                                           5

Five years                                             1 to 20                                           5

Children age 6 years and above group size will be determined according to current standards held by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The group size may be 10. Any group size may be adjusted, except infants and toddlers, to fill the total number of participants in The Program.

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