Delaware County program wins Purdue award
June 29, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — TEAMwork for Quality Living, a life skills program that serves Delaware County, has received the 11th annual Purdue University Inspiring Families and Building Communities Award.
The award, given by the College of Health and Human Sciences, honors organizations that have directly impacted a community and have improved the well-being of Indiana families. TEAMwork will receive $1,500 cash and a certificate. Two other programs, Blackford County's Silver Lining Opportunity Store and Johnson County's Club Exito (Esperanza En Jesucristo Ministries), also were recognized and will receive $400 each.
TEAMwork for Quality Living is a grass-roots nonprofit organization that matches trained allies from the middle class who serve as intentional friends and accountability partners to families living in poverty in Delaware County. Each small group, led by the person leaving poverty, focuses on developing plans for education and employment and moving toward life goals.
In the Blackford County program, families earn Silver Lining coupons when they participate in family-oriented programs, such as Born to Learn, Healthy Families, WIC, Extension and Early Head Start. The coupons are then redeemed at the Silver Lining Opportunity Store for children's items. The store is funded through grants and donations and is run by volunteers.
Club Exito is an ESL Family Literacy Program for Spanish-speaking families in Johnson County. Once a week, a bus picks up families from their homes and takes them to school so they can read or do homework with their children while volunteers assist. Additional volunteers organize activities for toddlers during this time. After the homework session, children participate in volunteer-led games, songs and reading while parents have an English lesson taught by an ESL teacher and a health lesson taught by a registered nurse. Families end the session by sharing with each other what they have learned.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Sources: Denise M. Buhrmester, director of communications for the College of Health and Human Sciences, 765-496-3663, dmbuhmester@purdue.edu
Angie Abbott, program leader for the College of Health and Human Sciences extension, 765-496-2488, abbottar@purdue.edu
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