Programs

Early Childhood Education

Early Care and Education Services are supervised by our Early Childhood Director and are offered year-round from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. five days a week. Children are engaged in a developmentally-appropriate curriculum of activities designed to enhance their physical, cognitive, language, and socio-emotional development. Our program recognizes the developmental challenges which are present for many homeless children and provides a low child:staff ratio of 5:1 for children 3 years and under. In addition to a loving, nurturing, educational environment, the children receive breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack all prepared in compliance with USDA standards. All of our activities are structured to feature the key factors that build confidence, self-help skills, and resiliency, which pave the way for school readiness and future success.

Family Advocacy

The Supportive Services component of Our House is designed to help families stabilize and to provide parents with the tools necessary to succeed as productive members of the community. Our Family Advocates work with families to identify areas of strengths and need, and connects them with appropriate resources and support systems within the community. Families will participate in goal setting and are expected to demonstrate effort and progress toward their goals. Because many of our parents are young single mothers who often began parenting in their teens, we provide parenting education and life skills workshops over the course of the year. As part of our support services, family advocates also provide resources and referrals for job training, mental health services, budgeting, and many other services related to housing, family strengthening, and resource building. Monthly parent meetings serve as a venue for education, with guest speakers who facilitate discussion on a variety of topics including, financial management, housing maintenance, resume writing, and other desired topics.

Child Development Associate/Parent Intern Program

In 2006, Our House recognized a further need to serve parents interested in pursuing advanced training and employment and implemented our Parent Intern Program, which empowers and equips our homeless parents (primarily single women) with the skills needed to work in the growing childcare sector.  We also provide training which enables participants to earn a Child Development Associate (CDA) certification, which is now the minimum requirement for all Georgia Pre-K teachers.  The program also provides training on the essential “soft skills” of communication, etiquette, literacy, etc. which help participants interact appropriately and maintain employment.  While most CDA training takes up to a year to complete, we have developed an efficient, effective model which can be completed in approximately five months.

Our House currently has three former parent interns as full-time permanent staff members.