Mercer Island Preschool Association (MIPA)     

Like every organization, MIPA is dedicated to fundraising.  We believe that every dollar raised should go directly back into supporting and serving our own community.

Since the early 1990's, MIPA has donated annual funds to assist low income Mercer Island families with preschool tuition.   At that time MIPA joined with Mercer Island Youth and Family Services to help these households.  While MIPA contributed monies to assist with scholarships, MI Y&FS contributed social work expertise as well as screening families for eligibility.  Criteria was agreed upon and as a result of the partnership, these families received more resources from the County and Washington State.  In addition, the funding availability was promoted throughout the MI community and over the years, the partnership between both organizations has benefited the community and the families who have received this support.

As we all know, preschool fees have increased substantially during the last decade.  Though MIPA has increased its funding over the years, it has not been able to keep up with the cost of living.  The number of children funded has always ranged between 6 and 8, yet the dollar amount needed to help support them has grown with the cost of tuition.  Please keep in mind that these families rarely qualify for any Washington State assistance other than medical coupons.  They barely earn enough to get by, usually earning a little over the amount that would qualify them for the meager services available anyway.  Bare economic survival is a difficult way to live day in and day out.

In most cases, the households MIPA serves fall into three broad descriptive categories.  In all cases at least one parent is employed.  So that you will know where your contributions are going, we want to acquaint you with these families and their circumstances.  The following are composites - those whom we regularly serve with MIPA tuition.

Family One:

This family is headed by a single parent, usually a mom.  She is in her early 30's, works full time or is enrolled in school and works part time.  She has 2 children, one in elementary school and one who is of preschool age.  Mom received no child support, either because her spouse has recently died or because she is the recent victim of domestic violence and her spouse has abandoned the family.  If the spouse has abandoned the family, the State has been unable to locate her ex to enforce child support.  If the spouse has died, the family was unprepared financially and mom is dealing with grief, has scrambled for work and is dealing with her children who have also experienced profound loss.  Everyone in this family is under terrific stress no matter what the circumstances and mom does not have the income to pay for part or full time tuition for a preschool.  The youngest needs the care, skills, play and fun that a preschool provides, and mom cannot stay at home to provide care regardless: she must be a work or at school in a full time capacity.  MIPA has assisted families like this on an annual basis, sometimes more than one family receiving funding falls into category number one.

Family Two:

The second family is one that has resided on Mercer Island for several years.  The family is compromised of 2 or more children.  What makes this family unique is that one of the parents is unable to work due to serious illness.  The family is dependent on one income and is often shouldered with extra medical bills, co-pays and numerous prescriptions.  The parent at home is unable to provide full time care for the youngest child.  THe parent needs respite from the child and the child needs time away from the home.  Although the ill parent tries to assist with responsibilities around the house as much as possible, the bulk of the responsibilities falls on the employed partner.  The family is overwhelmed, lives from one pay check to the next and lives in constant fear that the condition of the parent who is ill may grow worse.  Like family #1 MIPA assists families such as this annually and almost every year one family it serves falls into this category.

Family Three:

Both the parents in this family were born outside the US and were not raised speaking English.  One parent is more fluent than the other has difficulty in speaking and understanding our language.  One or both parents work in the sub economy even though they retain green cards or are now US citizens.  They are self employed in menial jobs and often have no medical insurance or benefits of any kind.  Their youngest child has limited exposure to the English language and American customs.  The parents cannot afford preschool yet realize without this opportunity their child will not be able to adapt easily once he or she starts kindergarten.  The family is concerned about their child's future well being because of the limitations experienced in the home.  Likes families one and two, this family is overwhelmed financially, that the child may suffer most in these circumstances.  Opportunities for exposure to the American culture are limited and the older the child gets, the harder it may be for the child to adapt.  The preschool experience in cases like this is life changing - it can assist in the avoidance of high anxiety, learning difficulties and self esteem issues.

Why is Preschool so important?

Children who are preschool aged are ripe for learning:  The human brain develops 90% of its capacity in the first 5 years of life.

Children who attend preschool:

• Learn to read earlier and better 
• Have larger vocabularies
• Have better math skills
• Have better fine motor skills
• Have better social and emotional skills
• Are less likely to stay back
• Are more likely to graduate high school
• Are far less likely to ever be incarcerated!
  

Why Is Preschool Important?
by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.

The term "preschool" means, literally, "before school." Sounds simple enough, but this literal translation isn't quite right for two reasons. First, preschool isn't something that occurs before school, it is school. Second, the focus of preschool shouldn't be on preparing a child to succeed at "real" school later, but instead should concentrate on her educational needs right now.

I am using "preschool" to mean the same thing as "nursery school," the schooling for children around three and four years of age. Professionals sometimes use the term "early childhood education" to mean the same thing.

There is an important distinction, however, between preschool and child care. Child care refers to the day-to-day, routine care of children from birth to three years, and to those parts of an older child's day in which the primary focus is not on education. Preschool, on the other hand, refers to the portion of the day in which the main goal is developmentally appropriate education. (This isn't to say that there isn't some overlap, of course. A lot of what goes on in a preschool classroom involves taking care of a child's physical and emotional needs, and a lot of what goes on in a good child-care setting is, in fact, educational.)

What do preschool children learn?
While many three- and four year-old children are already old hands at child care, others must learn to feel comfortable away from home. Regardless of their past experiences with care outside the home, children face similar challenges when they enter preschool. They all need to learn to control their feelings and also to express them. They need to get along in a group and also to take their own ideas and run with them. They need the opportunity to be leaders, and also to let others lead. Preschools that include mixed-age groups especially encourage this sort of natural learning.

Three- and four-year-olds are naturally very curious about the world around them, and they are capable of learning a great deal about its workings: how seeds sprout, how water flows, how clay feels when its pushed and pulled, how colors change when paints mix, what makes one block tower balance and another fall over, and so on. Good preschools give students plenty of hands-on opportunities to explore their world.

More fundamentally, children in preschool learn an approach to learning itself; in other words, they learn how to learn. Depending on their preschool experiences, they can come to view learning as creative exploration, or as dull memorization. They can begin to see school as a place where they feel comfortable and safe, or one in which they always need to be on their guard against being made to feel dumb.