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The Numbers The Effects The Hope The Project
Coordinator Project Partners Additional Funding
The Sites Grand Opening-Pilot Sites
The Hope
Research has shown that “just three months of a consistent form of early care and education can have a positive impact in the life of a child who is homeless, providing the stability, consistency and routine that is critical for positive development” (Molnar et al Ill Fares the Land).
The Project
Aurora, Inc. facilitates H.E.L.P. (Helping Each other Learn Peace, Patience, Priorities and Partners), a support group of local homeless service providers. This group’s increasing concern for the lack of services available homeless children ages 0-5 has led to the development of PlaySpaces in seven local shelters and transitional housing programs. These shelters individually serve 20 to 80 children age 0-5 annually.
PlaySpaces is based on Horizons for Homeless Children’s Playspaces model implemented in the Boston area. To make healthy play possible for children living in shelters, shelter residents, staff and community partners collaborate to create age-appropriate, “kid friendly” spaces that are equipped with libraries, art supplies, learning toys, and more.
Incorporating the all-important tools to challenge children physically, developmentally, and creatively, PlaySpaces allow our own 0-5 year-old children who are homeless to have a safe place to play, use their imaginations, and be just who they are … kids.
The PlaySpaces Coordinator will recruit, train, and schedule volunteers in the shelters to supervise and engage the children in fun, educational play, so they can grow and develop as all children should. Parents can also learn skills for helping their children grow and learn through playtime.
Project Partners
4C of Southern Indiana, with Welborn Baptist Foundation support, partnered with Aurora and H.E.L.P. to equip and launch two pilot sites: YWCA and Goodwill Family Shelter.
Jane Elgin and Laura Lukens-Parker, early childhood specialists with 4C, have assisted with selecting, ordering and setting up equipment at the seven sites: Lucas Place, Albion Fellows Bacon Center, House of Bread & Peace, Life Choices, and Ozanam Family Shelter.
In 2009, 4C of Southern Indiana, again through Welborn Baptist Foundation support, hired a Coordinator, Ginny Smith, who manages volunteers who serve in the various PlaySpaces.
for this project has come from the Downtown Optimist Club, Junior League of Evansville, the James R. & Adelaide H. Duncan Foundation, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, Trinity United Methodist Church-Fund B, the West Side Nut Club, St. John's East United Church of Christ, Olivet Evangelical Presbyterian Church--Women of Worship, Westside Catholic Consolidated Schools Youth Group, and Salon Professional Academy.
The Numbers The Effects The Hope The Project
Project Partners
Additional Funding The Sites Grand Opening-Pilot Sites
| Life Choices | YWCA | |
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4C of Southern Indiana 812.423.4008
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PlaySpaces is a project related to "Destination: Home"
the ten-year plan to end homelessness in
Evansville and Vanderburgh County.
This project serves to “Improve Access and Coordination of services for Specialized Populations,” one of the plan’s strategies. See the ten-year plan at
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