School Readiness in Infants and Toddlers Affected by Substance Abuse and/or HIV
AIA Grantees' Meeting
April 29, 2011
Washington, DC

In this 53-minute webcast, recorded at the 2011 AIA Grantees' Meeting, representatives from three agencies that host AIA projects share what they are doing to address school readiness for young children affected by perinatal substance abuse and/or HIV. Ms. Sloane provides background information supporting the importance of addressing school readiness in the first 5 years of life, as well as an overview of the Early Head Start Model and how it is being used collaboratively to serve pregnant and parenting substance using Latinas in Santa Cruz, CA. Ms. Gamble-Cobb shares how The Family Center in New York City promotes school readiness in young, HIV affected children through assessments and interventions for the children, parents/caregivers, and child-parent dyads. Finally, Mr. Zeinieh, describes how southern Florida's Family Central, Inc. promotes family reunification, stability and school readiness through comprehensive assessments and services for children and their families, as well as quality improvement services for teachers and child development centers that serve these families. Download the presentation slides [PDF].

Presenters:

• Cynthia Sloane, Director of Child and Family Development Programs, Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center, cynthia.sloane@scccc.org
• Ivy Gamble-Cobb, Executive Director, The Family Center, igamble@thefamilycenter.org
• Khalil Zeinieh, Vice President of Broward Operations, Family Central, Inc., KZ@familycentral.org

Presenter Bios:

Ivy Gamble-Cobb

Ivy Gamble-Cobb, LMSW, is the Executive Director of The Family Center. The Family Center is $4.5 million agency comprised of 45 staff serving over 700 families annually representing over 1,700 individual children, parents and caregivers. The Family Center provides services to families impacted by parental illness, crisis or loss. Ms. Gamble-Cobb was part of a team of four women who established The Family Center in 1994. Prior to co-founding The Family Center, Ms. Gamble-Cobb worked at the NYC Department of Social Services Division of AIDS Services as a Family Case Manager and as a Program Planner. Ms. Gamble-Cobb is featured in the video "A Gift for My Children: Families Talk about Custody Planning", and has co-authored articles on the issue of families affected by parental illness. Ms. Gamble-Cobb received her Bachelor's degree from New York University, her Master's degree in Social Work from Hunter College School of Social Work and has earned credits towards a PhD in Social Welfare.

Cynthia Sloane

Cynthia Sloane, MA, has directed programs serving low income children for nearly twenty years. She is currently the Director of the Child and Family Development Programs component for Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center. Ms. Sloane oversees 7 different early childhood programs including Head Start and Early Head Start. She has a Master Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Oregon in Management, Sociology and International Studies. She completed her undergraduate work at both California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo and the University of Hawaii. Ms. Sloane served in the Peace Corps - Philippines from 1981 to 1983 as a volunteer for the Ministry of Health. As an experienced grant writer and program developer, Ms. Sloane has designed a wide variety of programs for young children including early childhood mental programs, health and nutrition, parent education and father involvement.

Khalil Zeinieh

Khalil Zeinieh, MBA, has enthusiastically dedicated the past fifteen years of his professional career to results-based human service administration. As the executive vice president for the Broward Workforce Development Board for almost a decade he was instrumental in planning, implementing and evaluating employment and training programs for thousands of Broward County economically disadvantaged residents. Interested in early learning and prevention programs, Khalil served for three years as the assistant state director for the Florida Office of Early Learning overseeing child care, voluntary prekindergarten and early care and education quality improvement programs throughout the state. As the vice president for Broward County operations for Family Central, Inc., a full service early care and education and family support services organization with a forty-year history, Khalil has the pleasure and distinction of working with almost 200 team members, overseeing more than twenty federal, state, local and foundation performance based contracts, and serving well over 80,000 of Broward County's children and families for the past two years. With an MBA from Nova Southeastern University and certification as a Project Management Professional, Khalil brings a strong business, accountability and customer service approach to human services.