Parenting, Life Skills, and Family Development

Parenting Classes-Cornell Cooperative Extension offers an ongoing series of Parenting Classes for parents with children ranging from birth to adolescence. Parents who participated in these classes learned about child development, nutrition for healthy growth and development, communication techniques and positive discipline strategies among other topics. For more information about our parenting programs, contact Janet White.

Home Visiting and Individual Sessions - To better meet the needs of families, Cornell Cooperative Extension also provides parenting education through home visiting and individual sessions. 

Parenting Resource Room - The Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation awarded Cornell Cooperative Extension a grant to develop a Parenting Resource Room at the Extension offices. The resource room is primarily for parents and caregivers with young children seven years and younger. There are parenting books, videos, and interactive play activities for loan as well as a comfortable area for families to enjoy children's books and other activities together.

Parent To Parent Mentoring Program - Parent To Parent is a long-term participation program for pregnant and parenting teens, providing mentoring education and support in the areas of parenting and life skills development. For more information regarding our Parent To Parent program, contact Kat Kallen. 

Verizon Literacy Project - A grant from the Verizon Foundation to Cornell Cooperative Extension supported the development of "Literacy Bags" containing parenting information, age appropriate books, and interactive activities to facilitate children's literacy and language development. The bags are available for loan in Extension's Parenting Resource Center and will be utilized with a variety of parenting programs. For more information regarding our Verizon Literacy Project, contact Carol West.

FACTS (Families and Communities Together with Schools) is a Parent Information and Resource Center (PIRC) program funded through the United States Department of Education. FACTS operates a Parents as Teachers home visiting program throughout Jefferson County. Certified Parent Educators provide home visits and parents receive information on topics such as healthy child growth and development, promoting literacy and language development, helping children prepare for school, and meeting personal goals.

FACTS also works with local school districts to provide community-based parenting education through parent workshops focusing on understanding the No Child Left Behind Act, helping parents become more involved in their children’s education and supporting literacy and academic achievement at home.  FACTS will open school-based parenting resource rooms in several regions of Jefferson County, as well as at Cornell Cooperative Extension.  FACTS staff will also provide individual consultations to families who have individual concerns or questions regarding their children.

In collaboration with Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), FACTS offers resources, workshops, and professional development for teachers and school personnel on topics such as building relationships with families, involving parents in children’s education, communicating with families from diverse backgrounds, and supporting children from military families.

FACTS will provide resources statewide and will soon have an informational website.

Adult Building Blocks for Lifelong Education (ABLE) provides energy use management and financial management workshops to a wide range of participants. These workshops include Save Energy, Save Dollars; Making Ends Meet; Credit and Debt Management; Science of Energy; Energy Literacy; Energy at Home, and Energy at School. For more information about these programs, contact Jerry Loch.