Program encourages probationers to read with their children
Program encourages probationers to read with their children
Building on the old saying that reading is fundamental, the San Benito County Probation Department is hopeful that encouraging its clients to read with their children will fundamentally change lives that have been affected by interactions with law enforcement.
A partnership between the probation department and the San Benito County Free Library – which received $40,000 in Community Development Block Grants and support from the Friends of the Library – created the Grow Strong Family Literacy Program, which has “graduated” 38 probationers and their 47 children during its eight months in existence.
Born from an idea from Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders and his wife Fran, the program aims to promote the rehabilitation of first-time drug offenders with the goal of intervening in multi-generational cycles of crime and drug abuse by supporting the literacy and educational success of at-risk children. Program participants are referred to the library by the probation department and taught family literacy skills through weekly activities at the county library.
“It’s exactly what changes behavior,” said county Probation Chief Brent Cardall. “The (probationers) are working with their kids and seeing how those kids are getting excited about education. Some of them know that they themselves didn’t do well in education, which is one of the primary issues that put them on the path they were on.”
Groups of up to 10 probationers and their children meet at the library for an hour each week over an eight-week period, reading and learning about library services and checking out books.
“We encourage parents that reading is the basis for a good foundation on which to build academic success,” said Librarian Nora Conte, noting that the program has been in development for two years. “Some of the children in the program have already been reading and some are just starting to enter school and build that foundation. It’s not just about being ready to read; you’ll read your entire life.”
The focus of the program is the “quality time” that parents and children spend together learning about enjoying books and other activities at the library, Conte said. Parents do whole-class activities, read to their children and are given books that offer tips on how to foster a love of learning at home.
“It’s just an hour each week, but it’s jam packed,” she said.
Conte said she has gotten good feedback from the probationers who have gone through the program, including one who came to visit her to say that when he offered to take his child anywhere they wanted to go, the 4-year-old said, “the library.”
“I was delighted to know the power of reading for children,” she said. “A lot of those are the magic moments you spend with your parents reading a book.”
Cardall said education is the key to success for probation clients.
“This totally fits for the kids,” he said. “A lot of times these kids grow up and are in trouble with the law just like their parents. This program is really hitting at the root of the problem, focusing on people that could be at risk to offend. If we can stop that before it starts, then we’ve changed generations.”
There are, on average, 900 people on probation in San Benito County at a given time, according to Cardall.
Sanders said the literacy program is designed to lower the recidivism rate among probationers as well as fostering a love of reading and learning among their children.
“People who appear in my court multiple times tend to have a deficiency in education and/or training for jobs,” he said. “If we can eliminate those characteristics hopefully we can eliminate them from returning to court. It seems that people tend to avoid criminal activity when they’re more fully employed and also engaged with education.”
Sanders requires probationers to periodically report in to him at court, and most of the people who have gone through the library literacy program “have been extremely positive” about its impact, he said.
“There’s not one single magic bullet to solve the problem of recidivism, so we have to implement small programs that target specific segments and look at the next generation so we don’t keep repeating the mistakes of the past,” Sanders said.
Despite the success of the literacy program, it is not funded beyond June, which concerns the agencies involved.
“Under the present funding, I cannot continue the program” beyond the end of the fiscal year, Conte said. “We will continue to seek funds to keep it running because the library doesn’t have the money to keep this going. We’re always seeking grants so we can be responsive to the library needs of San Benito County residents. A library is the head and heart of a community and is a community’s gathering place.”
