Ready, Set, Go!
María Quijano has watched the Metropolitan Family Service (MFS) Ready, Set Go! (RSG) program expand significantly over the past ten years. When she started at MFS in 2013 as an AmeriCorp member, RSG had one classroom in the North Clackamas School District. In 2014 María became a program coordinator just as a new RSG site opened in Multnomah County. Today, María is the Senior Early Learning Program Manager and she oversees three services helping more than 200 families: home visiting, Early Ready, Set, Go! (children ages 0-3), and Preschool Ready, Set, Go! (children ages 3-5).
María reflects, “Empowering families to realize their potential has always been at the heart of the program and that is still true, but we also continue to evolve and change to meet the needs of the community. Portland is special because there are a lot of different types of preschools for families. Nonetheless, we continue to see a need for parent/child interaction groups, which is something we uniquely do.”
SVP Portland partnered with MFS in 2016 because our early childhood education goals aligned. RSG is a free, culturally-responsive program designed to bring parents and their preschool aged children together to learn side-by-side. In this model of learning, kids gain confidence and become independent, while parents or caregivers learn how to support their child’s future success in the classroom. The RSG approach combines home visits or family meetings with parent/child skill building in a group setting, a parent education program, and kindergarten readiness workshops.
During our partnership with MFS, we worked alongside them to develop a business plan that would enable RSG to grow and have a greater impact.
“Ever since we partnered with SVP, we have had a goal of serving between 200 and 300 families through Ready, Set, Go! and we are meeting that goal every year, which is pretty amazing” says María. RSG is currently at eight sites, and they have recently added a new service: home visiting. “In order to adapt, increase our services, and make our services more accessible for more people, we now have three Ready, Set, Go! home visitors that provide intentional one-on-one support for caregivers at their home or desired location. The home visitors also provide socialization groups and field trips to different areas in the community.”
Slowly and intentionally increasing their reach is a goal for RSG, and they are always looking for opportunities to connect with the school districts and to expand into areas with the most need for the programs they provide. “We work hard to build trust within our community, and we try to be culturally responsive to the needs of the community. The majority of the families that we serve are BIPOC with at least 50% who identify as Latinx, so most of our staff are bicultural, bilingual, and Latinx. Our weekly parenting groups are in English and Spanish, and at some sites interpreters are provided to support families that speak other languages than English or Spanish. Our staff definitely are a reflection of the community.”
Although our direct engagement with MFS ended in 2020, the impact of the collaboration between MFS and SVP is something that both organizations are proud of – 92% of the children who go through the RSG program showed improvement in developing social-emotional skills as measured by the Child Behavior Rating Scale, and 100% of parents reported improvement in family functioning. As María observes, “SVP is supportive of community partners even after an engagement ends–that continued connection reflects SVPs commitment to the work we do.”
