Accepting and presenting the Parents as Teachers’ Losos Prize for Innovation Award are from left: Krista Camarata, JLCC executive director; Patricia Kempthorne, PAT board chair; Carolyn Losos, PAT lifetime board member; JLCC Parent Educators Melissa Mallaber and Janelle Paulson, , JLCC Program Supervisor Karen Mason; and PAT President/CEO Constance Gully. Submitted photo

The Jamestown Community Learning Council was recently honored at the 35th annual Parents as Teachers International Conference in St. Louis, Mo., with the Losos Prize for Innovation.

One award is given annually for developing new solutions to address specific needs in a community or enhancing programmatic service delivery in a new or innovative way. The JCLC embedded a parent educator in the Teenage Education and Motherhood program to provide the evidence-based Parents as Teachers curriculum to teen mothers on a daily basis. The partnership between JCLC, the Jamestown YWCA and the Jamestown Public Schools was viewed as a model to be replicated, while adding the PAT curriculum to the TEAM program, which has been in operation 46 years, was viewed as strategically forward thinking.

An additional parent educator was added with the help of funding from the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative to create a program called PAT PLUS (Plus Linkages Until Success). The second parent educator continues the PAT curriculum with teens and their children that have graduated from high school and provides guidance to help them transition to higher education or employment.

The JCLC also completed the Parents as Teachers Quality Endorsement and Improvement Process and earned the highest designation of Blue Ribbon Affiliate status. The Blue Ribbon Affiliate programs are based at the TEAM program and the Gateway Center with the help of funding from the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County.

“The Blue Ribbon designation reaffirms what JCLC already knows, we are doing great work with fidelity and positively impacting families in our community,” said Krista Camarata, JCLC executive director. “We are very grateful for this national recognition and it wouldn’t be possible without all the hard work from our dedicated staff.”

Parents as Teachers is an internationally-recognized evidence-based home visiting model backed by 35 years of research-proven outcomes for children and families.

The Jamestown Community Learning Council has been serving the Jamestown community since 1990 and has recently expanded its reach countywide to include programs in Southwestern, Frewsburg, Dunkirk, Brocton, and Silver Creek school districts.