Episode 74: Innovative Early Education Outreach that Actually Reaches the Children - Play Smart Literacy (With Michelle Dineen-White & Talmage Steele)

Michele Dinneen-White was working in an early education outreach program when she realized something.  The program wasn't actually reaching out to the families who needed it most.  Those families were still required to find the time and the means to get their child to the center in order to receive services.  And for many, that barrier was just too much to overcome.  So Michele decided to create something new.   The program is called Play Smart Literacy and it serves families in the Chicago area.  It's a fully mobile outreach program, one that actually reaches OUT and INTO the most vulnerable communities.  And what is their mission?  To build language and relationships through play.  Michele and her parent play leaders go to where the families are – parks, shelters, mobile markets, Head Start and early care programs, laundromats, gas stations – and they build real relationships with the families they meet, while at the same time building the families' understanding of the connections between play, talk, and child development …AND building their confidence as parents as well.  Their message is clear:  EVERY parent has the ability to have a strong positive influence on their child's future.