Building Resilience in Children, Youth and Families

Through the Building Resilience in Children, Youth and Families project, Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) will augment services to at-risk families with children between the ages of six weeks and four years who attend the WJCS Family Day Center (Family Center) located in Southwest Yonkers. Through this project, WJCS will continue to offer day care services, thus continuing to address the lack of day care in southwest Yonkers, and we will augment these services by creating and enhancing initiatives that help respond to the painful realities and consequences of childhood poverty, neglect and inadequate family support systems. The project will plan and implement initiatives designed to foster school readiness, prevent child victimization and maltreatment, improve family functioning, and promote pro-social behavior. Such services that empower individuals to develop the skills that foster resilience and help create safe and healthy environments for children, youth and families will include staff training in evidence based best practices, inter-agency collaboration, parent support services, early intervention and early childhood mental health services, and linkages to other WJCS programs including services and educational supports to adults and older children challenged by learning issues, and programs for families confronting violence and abuse in their homes and communities. NCA/NCF