(Courtesy of Hidden Sparks) Hidden Sparks, a nonprofit focused on providing teachers and parents with the tools to support struggling students in mainstream Jewish day schools, is expanding the service area for its Parent Education Center (PEC) to include all five New York City boroughs. This growth in services, which were previously focused on Queens, is in response to the rising out-of-borough requests since the PEC’s opening at the beginning of the current school year.
The Hidden Sparks PEC is funded by the city’s Department of Education, and thus provides services at no cost. While some of the center’s services, including one-on-one sessions, are limited only to parents of students who receive DOE services through the federal Title 1 program, other workshops are open to parents of all types of learners.
As part of the latest expansion of services, parents from all five boroughs will be able to tap into the Hidden Sparks center to learn strategies for bolstering their children’s literacy, math, organizational and executive functioning skills from licensed education specialists. Topics covered include a broad range such as homework help and time management as well as self-regulation and anti-bullying strategies. The center has held over 200 of these sessions over the last six months. In addition, the new Parent Sparks program offers a live conversation in a virtual meeting space where parents can convene to hear about and share valuable parenting tips and strategies.
“Since the PEC first opened its doors to the Queens community, parents from all over have come forward requesting the use of our services,” said Ethel Salomon, the director of the center. “Today we are pleased to be meeting this strong demand, having ramped up our capacity in order to partner with parents from all five boroughs, providing them with the support to foster their children’s futures.”
“Nurturing children’s educational and emotional development requires a robust toolkit of strategies at a parent’s disposal,” said Hidden Sparks Executive Director Debbie Niderberg. “Having access to a very compassionate and skilled practitioner with deep expertise in understanding and teaching to diverse students and years of experience working with parents in Jewish day schools is an enormous gift to parents and the community, especially during these times. Under Ethel’s leadership and through this Parent Education Center, parents have access to a tremendous resource to help them and their children.”
