Excellent Public Education

Featured Projects: Homework Help and Project LIFT

Description
The Tucson-Pima Public Library's Homework Help program offers free drop-in homework assistance at forty-two locations (libraries, schools, and other youth-oriented agencies) throughout Pima County.

Project LIFT (Literacy Involves Families Together) is a family literacy program that targets teen parents who are enrolled in parenting or child development programs.

Key Features
Homework Help:
Skilled tutors assist students and each site provides materials that support homework assignments (reference books, recreational reading, pencils, paper, etc.).

Project LIFT:

• A series of ten classes teaches the parents how to develop their child's reading readiness skills and about the importance of reading to babies.
• Participants create baby books of cloth, paper, and other materials.
• Participants also learn songs and rhymes to share with their children, and receive board books for their child to keep.

Partners
Many organizations provide space for the Homework Help program including Boys & Girls Clubs, the House of Neighborly Service, Tucson Urban League, City of Tucson and Pima County Parks & Recreation, and four school districts. The following school districts and agencies provide space and time for Project LIFT classes: Amphitheater, Marana, Sunnyside, Tucson, Child & Family Resources, Inc., Jewish Family & Children's Services, and La Frontera.

Impact
Homework Help:

• 23,312 student contacts were made during Fiscal Year 1998-99.
• The National League of Cities selected the Homework Help program as a demonstration project for its third annual "Good Neighbors, Great Cities: Showcase of City Programs" at the 1998 Congress of Cities.
• The majority of parents and students who responded to surveys reported an improvement in the students' grades and attitudes toward homework.

Project LIFT:
Research on the development of the human brain continues to document that language development activities (e.g., reading aloud) are of critical importance during a child's early months and years. Studies have also found the mother's educational attainment is the strongest predictor of the level of education her child will reach. This program helps mothers understand the importance of their own education, as well as their child's.

For more information about Homework Help and Project LIFT, contact Laura Thomas Sullivan, 791-4391 lsulliv@ci.tucson.az.us

Other Projects That Further This Goal:

• Neighborhood College (with Pima Community College)
• Citizens Police Academy
• Wallace-Reader's Digest Grant: Libraries as Partners in Youth Development
• Summer Reading Programs for Children and Teens
• Metropolitan Education Commission (MEC)
• Safety Education and Outreach Programs

Goal Indicator definition for this project.