Pictured: HIPPY participants Maria Orozco and her son, Dylan Mendoza, enjoy reading a book together.

To support efforts to counter the effects of poverty on early learning, United Way Suncoast has awarded Safe Children Coalition (SCC) $75,000 in Community Investment funding for its Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. HIPPY focuses on programming in North Sarasota and surrounding communities that experience the highest levels of poverty in the County. In this area, 56% of the population – the highest percentage in Sarasota County – are considered ALICE or below the federal poverty level (United Way ALICE Report, 2018). 

Free to participants, HIPPY helps parents to provide educational enrichment for preschool-age children and support them if they do not feel sufficiently confident to prepare their children for school and is designed to remove barriers to participation in education. By bolstering parents in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher, HIPPY strives to increase children's success in school and, ultimately, in life.

Pictured: HIPPY participants Maria Orozco and her son, Dylan Mendoza, enjoy reading a book together.