The San Manuel Band of Mission Indian’s Grants $10,000 To The Solomon’s Ujamaa Center Inc.
The donation helps the Solomon Center teach families to teach reading skills to their children.
(Highland, CA.) The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians recently awarded the Solomon’s Ujamaa Center Inc., a $10,000 grant. The money will fund the Center’s Parental Literacy and Child readiness program in the City of Highland by expanding on the Center’s efforts to increase literacy in the City of Highland.
The Family Resilience Empowerment Education (F.R.E.E.) program has helped more than 500 families increase their Parental Literacy and Child readiness in the last three years in San Bernardino County.
There are three F.R.E.E. teaching sites in the City of San Bernardino, one site in the City of Yucaipa, and another in Delman Heights, an unincorporated part of the county near San Bernardino. These five sites are funded by a grant from First 5 San Bernardino County.
“San Manuel supports the Solomon Ujamaa Center’s priority to nurture reading skills, spur educational attainment and enhance self confidence among families,” said San Manuel Chairperson Carla Rodriguez. She added, “Education is the great equalizer that will empower families and children to reach high goals.”
“At the Ujamaa Center parents are taught that they are their child’s first teacher,“ said Dr. Johari Hodari, executive director of the Solomon Ujamaa Center Inc.
“We teach parents that if they place a heavy emphasis on reading to their children, that they will foster a desire in their child to read. Children who read well by the end of the third grade are much more successful in life than those who don’t. We also know that as good readers children minds are opened to great possibilities and great opportunities,” said Dr. Hodari.
“We teach parents the “Art of Reading to Their Children” using the Motheread curriculum, said Dr. Hodari.
“While parents learn in their classes, their children ages three to five years old are taught skills to prepare them for pre-school or Kindergarten. Certificates of Completion are presented to all parents who attend and finish 80 percent of their classes.”
For more information on the Solomon’s Ujamaa Center’s F.R.E.E., program call (909) 880-3200.
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About The Solomon’s Ujamaa’s Center
The Solomon’s Ujamaa’s Center opened it’s doors to the community in 2001 with tutorial services for students in grades K-12, food and clothing services, a reading and math program, parent education and bonding program.
In 2009 Solomon’s Ujamaa Center received a grant “Emerging Needs” to promote a reading program called Motheread and in June of 2010 SUC received another grant “Desired Results” from First 5 of San Bernardino to teach parent education and bonding classes for parents with children 0-5 years of age. For more information please go to the website at: http://www.solomonsujamaa.com/index.html
About the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
The San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians is a federally recognized American Indian tribe located near the city of Highland, Calif. The Serrano Indians are the indigenous people of the San Bernardino highlands, passes, valleys and mountains who share a common language and culture. The San Manuel reservation was established in 1891 and recognized as a sovereign nation with the right of self-government. Since time immemorial, the San Manuel tribal community has endured change and hardship. Amidst these challenges the tribe continued to maintain its unique form of governance. Like other governments it seeks to provide a better quality of life for its citizens by building infrastructure, maintaining civil services and promoting social, economic and cultural development. Today San Manuel tribal government oversees many governmental units including the departments of fire, public safety, education and environment.
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