Incredible Years Launches
Over a 14-week period, parents learn how to foster social and emotional development and manage challenging behaviors in their children through group discussion and support, role playing parenting techniques, video modeling, home activities and self-monitoring checklists and goals.
The program will teach parents and caretakers how to use interactive play and reinforcement skills, nonviolent discipline techniques and problem solving strategies.
Beginning in February, there will be one Incredible Years Parent Training group for English speaking parents. The slots for this first parent training series were filled with only a month of recruitment efforts and a wait list will now be started for the next set of series. Next fiscal year four parent training groups will be offered: two in Spanish and two in English.
Durham is one of five counties awarded the two-year Incredible Years grant from the North Carolina Partnership for Children which was funded by Duke Energy. It is part of a statewide evaluation study of the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parent model.
This new joint initiative is also supported in part by Durham County’s Results Based Accountability Initiative.
Durham’s Partnership, Welcome Baby and Healthy Families Durham staff will participate in the evaluation which is being conducted by the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.
If you have any questions about the Incredible Years program, please contact Kate Irish, kate@dpfc.net, 919-403-6960 ext 226.
The Partnership receives grants, contributions for early childhood initiatives
The Partnership is thankful for the generous support of Durham County’s Results Based Accountability Initiative, Docs For Tots National and Triangle United Way.
Each organization granted $5,000 to support the Partnership’s Docs For Tots NC Initiative, a civic engagement program aimed at health professionals, particularly pediatricians and pediatric residents, to become involved in activities to support the healthy development of young children and families through educational activities.
The Partnership is in the process of working with Duke University Medical Center to hire a Docs For Tots Program Coordinator by late January.
The Partnership is also grateful to the following organizations for their support for early childhood initiatives across Durham:
°Verizon Foundation contributed $5,000 to school readiness.
Other community contributions
°iContact , a local Durham-based email marketing provider and Partnership vendor, made a generous contribution.
°Our volunteers and supporters shopped at Barnes & Noble on behalf of the Partnership on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30. These efforts raised funds (percentage of sale proceeds) benefiting young children.
°The Durham Jaycees donated proceeds from the organization’s 2007 Haunted House.
Partnership receives clean audit
The Office of the State Auditor conducted an audit in December. An audit of 2006-07 Smart Start and More at Four activities found no instances of non-compliance or weaknesses in internal controls.
Durham’s Partnership for Children administers $9.6 million in state funds to the help close the preparation gap for families with young children across Durham County.
The audit looks for compliance in three core areas: accuracy of financial statements, how the partnership processes and authorizes transactions such as grants, accounts payable, payroll and cash receipts, and contract compliance.
“We are very pleased with our results,” said Michael Palmer, Durham’s Partnership for Children Board Chair. “We have worked hard to use every tax dollar wisely to help Durham County’s children, and the results of the 06-07 audit demonstrates our efforts to be exceptional stewards of state funds.”
Office of the State Auditor uses Government Auditing Standards to audit Durham’s Partnership for Children every other year.
“We are very proud of the work our staff has done,” said Marsha R. Basloe, Executive Director of Durham’s Partnership for Children. “We know that our ability to serve the Durham County’s youngest children has been strengthened by our ability to be fiscally responsible,” she added.
Support awareness for the Earned Income Tax Credit and help bring $1 million more to Durham
Tax Filing Season is here. Please spread the word about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and free tax preparation through local Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites.
As many as 6,000 Durham families are leaving $3-5 million dollars “on the table” when they do not file for the EITC. They've earned it and they need to claim it!
The EITC is a federal income tax credit for low-and moderate-income working families. First enacted in 1975 under President Gerald Ford, the EITC expanded under presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Sr., and William “Bill” Clinton—and has had longstanding bipartisan support. The credit is refundable, which means that if the amount of EITC qualified for is more than the taxes owed, the IRS will refund the difference. An individual can even get the EITC when they do not owe any taxes and are not required to file a federal tax return based on their income. However, a federal income tax return must be filed in order to get the EITC. For people that qualify for the maximum refund, the EITC could mean up to $4,716 a year.
To claim the EITC, an individual must file a tax return. The IRS –sponsored VITA program works with community-sponsored organizations to provide free high-quality tax preparation services to low-income tax filers. Electronic filing is available at VITA sites and a refund can be received within 10 working days. For a site location, call Money Wi$e Durham at 251-1895 or call Connectinc free tax preparation helpline at 1-888-927-3230 or visit the EITC Carolinas Web site at www.eitc-carolinas.org
Fees for tax preparation vary widely, and many charge excessive rates for "refund anticipation loans," thereby reducing the value of the credit to hard-working families. Free or low-cost sites represent an important alternative to these services. When taxes are filed electronically at a VITA site, there is a quick turn around for a refund – without giving up any money in interest.
Help spread the word about these important programs. Please share this information with community agencies and your networks to help bring $1 million in tax credits to Durham’s hard working families.
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