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[edit] Introduction
Saint Vincent’s Day Home (SVDH) is a private, non-sectarian, non-profit child development center serving the low-income, at-risk children and families in the heart of West Oakland, California. SVDH provides comprehensive early childhood education and family support programs for families in greatest economic need. Since its founding in 1911, the Day Home has been a home away from home for more than 32,000 children.
SVDH exists to partner with working poor parents and assist them in learning the much needed skills of communication, parenting and positive conflict resolution, while providing their children with a caring, nurturing environment in which to grow. In turn, parents teach these newly acquired skills to their children, passing on the model of healthy, positive parenting to the next generation. SVDH’s service to the entire family allows children and parents to become confident, capable contributors to their community.
[edit] Mission
To provide quality early care and development services to those in greatest need while offering family services in which children are nurtured and educated and their parent(s) supported in meeting their parental responsibilities.
[edit] History
In May of 1911, at the request of His Grace the Most Reverend Archbishop Riordan, Holy Family Sisters Joseph and Agnes were sent to Oakland to select a site for an establishment. What they found was the Charles D. and Laura Haven House, an 1863 Queen Anne house with 14 rooms and a very early (c. 1864) Italianate vernacular farmhouse. The price was considered a bargain at the time, and the purchase was completed on May 24, 1911.
On the Feast of the Guardian Angels, October 2, 1911, Most Rev. Archbishop Riordan, assisted by Msgr. Prendergast, V.G., Fathers McNally, Dempsey, and Galli dedicated the new Holy Family convent and Saint Vincent's Day Home, which were all under the same roof (the Day Home occupied the second floor).
The Day Home opened on October 16, 1911. The first children received were 3 1/2-year old twin boys. By November, there were 32 children cared for in the Day Home. Within 3 years, enrollment was up to 78 children.
On June 30, 1917 the Superintendent of the Public Schools, accompanied by one of the members of the Board of Education, visited the Day Home with plans to use Saint Vincent’s as a model for a similar program to be established in connection with the Public School Department. They expressed great admiration for the manner in which the Day Home was conducted.
In the 1920s, the Eighth Street site became dedicated entirely to the Day Home as the Sisters, who had previously lived on the third floor of the building, moved their convent to the old home of Mr. H. Butters at Piedmont, known as "Alta Vista." In 1921, the United Crusade (later the United Way) began funding the Day Home.
By the 1930s, SVDH had grown to serve 180 children, and in the 1940s, the Day Home completed the first of several expansion projects to accommodate the ever-growing population.
The 1970s saw the establishment of the first Parent Board, and the receipt of subsidies from the State of California. Recognized as a leader in the field, the Day Home made a presentation at the White House Conference on Children during this period as well. In 1976, a major expansion of the facility included a new school building and accessory school structures.
In the 1980s, the Cowell Foundation funded construction of a new gym, just in time for Saint Vincent’s Day Home to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1986. In commemoration of its 75 years of service, SVDH launched its “Children’s Fund” endowment campaign, to provide additional funding through earnings.
The first lay Board of Directors was appointed in 1990. SVDH’s first computer lab opened in 1991, the same year that the Children’s Fund reached the $1 million mark. In 1995, the fund had grown to exceed $2 million, and Day Home reached its current maximum enrollment of 250 children. By 1997 more than 30,000 children had been served by the Day Home since 1911. The next year, SVDH’s Board of Directors successfully completed the transition of ownership of the Corporation and the facility from Sisters of the Holy Family. The Day Home launched a Capital Campaign to raise $2.6 million for major expansion and renovation, including four new classrooms, a family literacy center and ramps, lifts, and elevators to meet ADA accessibility requirements. The project ended up becoming a $3.8 million endeavor, which was completed in 2003.
[edit] Educational Philosophy
Saint Vincent’s Day Home strives to give children a quality start in life so that they will have every opportunity to reach their potential and experience the success that leads one out of poverty into a promising future. The cornerstone of Saint Vincent’s child development program is the recognition that children succeed in school and life when they have a safe place in which to experience diverse activities that provide opportunities to develop and enhance skills and self-esteem. SVDH’s educational approach is based on an active learning model that emphasizes participants' intellectual and social development. A high staff-to-child ratio of one adult for every four or eight children provides children with experiences in small group learning environments. In addition, parents/guardians participate in monthly small group meetings with other parents/guardians, facilitated by program staff.
SVDH is committed to an “active learning” approach in which children have direct, hands-on experiences with people, objects, events, and ideas. Each child’s interests and choices are at the heart of the Day Home’s programs. Children construct their own knowledge through interactions with the world and the people around them. Children take the first step in the learning process by making choices and following through on their plans and decisions. Teachers, caregivers, and parents offer physical, emotional, and intellectual support. Together, as a team, SVDH and the families expand children’s thinking with diverse materials and nurturing interactions. Working hand-in-hand provides consistent best practices for SVDH’s developmentally based program.
Within this broad framework, the social, intellectual, and physical experiences that will be provided are essential to our children’s optimal growth and will be organized into social development (initiative and social relations), visual and performing arts (creative representation, movement, and music), reading (language and literacy), and math and science (number, classification, seriation, space, and time). SVDH teachers utilize these key experiences when they set up the environment and plan activities to encourage learning and social interaction.
[edit] Current Program
Saint Vincent’s Day Home currently provides a structured early child development program and licensed Kindergarten for approximately 230 ethnically diverse children, ages 2 through 6, from 185 families. All of these children’s parents are working, in school, or in job training programs. Services are available from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday year-round. Because all of the Day Home’s families are considered “low-income,” child care fees are based on a sliding scale.
Children attending SVDH experience an enriched program focused on sound mental and physical growth, physical coordination, healthy socialization, reading readiness and beginning computer skills, while supporting parents in addressing needs in the home environment. The Day Home’s programs nurture sound physical and emotional development through a balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated activities. Classrooms are organized around a child’s age, and activities are geared to evolving developmental needs. Daily contact between parents and teachers ensures that parents understand what their child is learning in the Day Home.
Because good health is essential to sound development, SVDH offers annual dental, vision, and speech screening for early diagnosis of developmental problems. Individual emotional counseling, play therapy and speech therapy are offered on-site. Every child is provided with a hot breakfast, complete lunch, and a nutritious afternoon snack, all of which is prepared in SVDH’s commercial kitchen. By design, 100% of each child’s nutritional needs are met at the Day Home guarding against deficiency should the family be unable to meet these needs at home.
Saint Vincent’s is committed to creating opportunities for the children and families who need them most. To this end, the program includes an element of parent education, as well as referrals to community health and social services agencies. A variety of classes and workshops are available to parents and families to literacy skills, as well as practical skills development such as word processing and money management. There is also a Family Library on-site for children and adults with a collection that is reflective of the many languages spoken at SVDH.
[edit] Notable Alumni
US Congresswoman, Barbara Lee, attended Saint Vincent’s Day Home in the 1950s.
[edit] Sources
Saint Vincent’s Day Home website: www.svdh.org
Kavanagh, Rev. D.J., The Holy Family Sisters of San Francisco, Gilmartin Co., San Francisco, 1922
Oakland Tribune: Preschool Helps Kids Who Need Nurturing: http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7434413
Catholic Voice: Corinne Mohrmann Named Bay Area Catholic Woman of the Year: http://www.catholicvoiceoakland.org/07-09-17/inthisissue2.htm
State Budget Impacts Some Bay Area Local Institutions: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5587985
Chevron Donates to Saint Vincent's Day Home Family-Literary Program: http://api-ec.api.org/ehs/partnerships/educational/chevdonatsaintvin.cfm
67.120.89.1 (talk) 20:17, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
Comment: The first two paragraphs of the history section are copied verbatim from [4], which claims copyright. The rest of the text appears original. I'm not sure of copyright concerns in that kind of case. Yngvarr (c) 20:39, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
Comment: - I'd reject it based on partial copyvio, and advise submitter to resubmit when the copyvio has been eliminated. Or, you could accept it without putting the questionable text into the article. ArcAngel (talk) 21:29, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
- Then again - since this says it's a private, non-profit institution, that makes it non-notable in my book. ArcAngel (talk) 22:07, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
Comment: I'd reject as an advert. MSGJ (talk) 22:09, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
Declined. We cannot accept copyrighted content taken from web sites or printed sources. Note that copyright protection is granted to all works automatically, whether it is asserted or not. Unless stated otherwise, assume that most content on the internet is copyrighted and not suitable for Wikipedia. Please write in your own words, and in continuous prose. Partial copyright is the main reason, see comments above; the other comment applies regarding notability. Yngvarr (c) 22:18, 6 March 2008 (UTC)