Our Programs

This program is specifically designed to work with families coping with incarcerated youth. We work to address the needs of the whole family, through joint classes which have age-appropriate classes for the parents and the incarcerated youth. We use an inside/outside approach where our programming
continues to be available to youth after incarceration.

Our Early Education modules are designed to support educational achievement by developing skills and fostering the value of parents as a child’s first teacher.

A weekly 2-hour sessions conducted in English and Spanish, trained facilitators, many directly from the Chapman program, guide parents in discussing issues affecting their family and community. We guide discussions on over 100 topics including mental health, divorce, self-esteem, addiction, hygiene, the cycle of violence, community safety, restraining orders, violence and culture, and home safety. Topics are selected by the participants, and parents, teens, and children participate in concurrent sessions, joining together at the end for reflections. A Community Worker visits each site weekly to provide support, assessments, referrals, and community resources to families that are in crisis or need guidance in accessing other services.

We also provide Community Resourcing to families and individuals who may need assistance navigating their way to success. This includes providing referrals to community services providers, counseling, support, and information to those who struggle with the pressures of poverty and language barriers.

The leaders of our Early Education and Community Resourcing modules were all once participants in Padres Unidos classes or programs themselves. Preparation for teaching happens through our Community Worker training program; a collaborative educational module provided in partnership with Chapman University. Here, parent facilitators spend two years engaged in higher education, developing effective theories and practices for fostering self-sufficiency, resources, and asset building in the community. Upon completion of the Community Worker program, many continue to serve with Padres Unidos in various capacities or go on to find success in other service-oriented work. Overall, Padres Unidos serves the community in multiple ways: educating youth, training parents, helping families, and finally, improving the community.

We work with Orange County Juvenile Hall where we help youth and their families who are coping with the feelings of isolation and the burden of having a family member who is incarcerated. Our program unites parents and current and formerly incarcerated youth in an age-appropriate curriculum that helps families with relational and emotional tools for strengthening family bonds.

In a collaborative study with the Probation Department, we have demonstrated a significant reduction in recidivism/ rates of re-incarceration. Our success was shown in a recent OC Probation Justice System evaluation that measured the impact of Padres Unidos’ programming. The research compared the difference in recidivism rates of 68 youth before enrolling in our program, and after. Significantly, re-offending rates for youth reduced by 52%. Among those who did re-offend, serious crimes (felonies) dropped by 60%.

Through our work, the formerly rigid, normative separation between the youth and the officers has been eased, as both have come to better understand each other through careful, collaborative programming. The new dynamic can be observed first hand during our parent and family graduations which celebrate the accomplishments of the youth and their parents.

One of our longest-running partnerships has been with Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) where we have developed over 100 culturally and linguistically appropriate modules that address a variety of topics, including, parenting classes, mental health access/obstacles, and early education. We have tailored programming to local school needs through close working relationships with families in discussions facilitated by our skilled staff. Our approach is developmentally and age-appropriate and helps promote protective (i.e. parent involvement, parent knowledge of the developmental stages, and access to resources).

The need – Padres Unidos’ holistic approach to early education is specially developed to address the needs of the unique demographics of Santa Ana. Our program addresses the socio-emotional needs of our students which is not only integral to their ability to excel in reading, writing,and literacy, but helps create healthier, happier families. According to the District’s Rising report, SAUSD students are 96% Latino and 60% English Language Learners (ELL). ELL students face unique challenges, according to ACA Knowledge Center’s report (2016) on ELL students, whose “challenges include, but are not limited to, issues related to academics, socioeconomic status, parental involvement, and socio-emotional strains” (1).

Our Early Learning Programs were affirmed with the first-year results of a university and district study. In our School Readiness/Parents as Teachers Module, parents assume the role of teaching in lieu of a full-time program, building a strong parental backbone to strengthen education. A three-year study comparing our programming with that of other preschool programs looked at the school performance of children. The results indicated that the students enrolled in our programming, offered once a week at a fraction of the cost of 5-day programs, performed just as well as the other students.

We provide school readiness classes for children aged 3 to 5 years old and education for parents to help prepare them to be their child’s first teacher. To learn more, continue below!

Early Education: Mission and Goals

Padres Unidos’ culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate needs-based approach keeps us on the leading edge of assessing needs, securing support, and working with community members. Our unique structure means we are in direct contact with community members. Padres Unidos’ Early Education program benefits from our larger organization by connecting our instructors to the resources of our broader service network. Our approach addresses socioemotional factors essential for the unique needs of our community members and has made it more accessible and affordable. Addressing these challenges is central to Padres Unidos’ mission: Successfully Families build Successful communities.

To serve our mission, we have 5 goals:

1. ) Help students prepare for a lifetime of academic success starting with fewer children needing to repeat kindergarten or who test “below-basic” on the state test.
2. ) Help parents and caregivers to view themselves as their children’s first teachers; help encourage them to become actively engaged in their future both at school and in the community.
3. ) Help close the widening gap between services needed and services available to support our families and communities.
4. ) Support families by educating parents on mental health literacy. Parents will identify, strengthen, and increase their capacity to seek, understand and act on mental health information. Children will be able to identify and mitigate mental health issues in order to increase the child’s and youth’s physical, psychological, socio-emotional and academic success.
5. ) The parent training is designed to reduce family stress and build awareness of developmental milestones and health care needs and access, while the children are engaged in family and child care activities to improve attention and self-regulation, including emotional regulation.

There are three weeks of outreach before each 12-week session – Program coordinators, staff, and volunteers meet with school staff to coordinate services

• Program coordinators, staff and volunteers conduct outreach at each school. This includes: phone calls and school and neighborhood visits to personally invite parents and encourage their attendance
• This educational module incorporates in-classroom school readiness strategies for 3 to 5-year-olds and parenting skills training for parents and caregivers. Components are delivered simultaneously in separate classrooms. Childcare is provided for children under age 3.
• Community workers utilize our County-wide network to link families to services and/or use a hand-in-hand individual approach if needed

Two twelve-week cycles of instruction include:

• ○Academic learning activities that teach pre-writing, pre-math, early literacy, art, music, and science, linked to kindergarten readiness, Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) goals and early STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) education. An 8:1 student to facilitator ratio is maintained in the classroom.
• ○This educational module is culturally attuned to provide basic knowledge and an opportunity to learn how to recognize and act on early signs of Mental Health issues (Depression, Anxiety, Suicide etc.).
• ○An asset-based approach encourages a feedback loop between service providers and parents, allowing organizations to adapt their services to the strengths and needs of families and fortify protective factors. This is a key benefit of the Two-Generation Model: while the overt focus is to support young children, parents are supported, even transformed, by their involvement.
• ○Socio-emotional learning activities that teach children to separate from parents, listen, respond, ask questions, follow instructions, work individually and in groups, and learn skills such as hygiene and safety.

Adaptive Programming Modules

Specialized additional educational modules are available to respond to individual school or community needs as all Padres Unidos modules follow our “Needs-Based curriculum” as part of a culturally sensitive delivery strategy developed over 30 years of experience. Currently, we have developed 10 distinct modules with Santa Ana Unified School District depending on the needs and resources of the school.

Padres Unidos’ Education Pipeline

Since 1999, Padres Unidos’ Community Education Pipeline has leveraged the human and cultural assets of low-income communities in Orange County to build pathways of success leading from early schooling to vibrant careers. The pipeline starts with our Early Education modules which prepare children for educational achievement by both developing skills and fostering the value of parents as a child’s first teacher. Our Parent Education modules cultivate skills which help parents engage effectively with their children, their child’s teachers, and their children’s school. These important relationships are related to the improvement of learning outcomes for their children. We also provide Community Resourcing to families and individuals who may need assistance navigating their way to success. This includes providing referrals, counseling, support, and information to those who struggle with the pressures of poverty and language barriers. The leaders of these modules were all once participants in Padres Unidos classes or programs themselves. Preparation for teaching happens through our Community Worker training program; a collaborative educational module provided in partnership with Chapman University. Here, parent-facilitators spend two years engaged in higher education, developing effective theories and practices for fostering self-sufficiency, resources, and asset building in the community. Upon completion of the Community Worker program, many continue to serve with Padres Unidos in various capacities or go on to find success in other service-oriented work. Overall, Padres Unidos’ Community Education Pipeline serves the community in multiple ways: educating youth, training parents, helping families, and finally, improving the community.