MET, Inc. recently received new Mobile Toy Lending Libraries. The goal of the lending libraries is to strengthen and empower families. Many parents feel overwhelmed when searching for toys to help foster their children’s development. The Mobile Toy Lending Libraries will provide a large selection of quality toys and books for all home visiting enrolled families. This will offer the parents the opportunity to "try before they buy" which ensures they do not waste money on toys their child may not enjoy. Items will also be available for non-THV enrolled families who are interested in receiving more information. The Mobile Toy Lending Libraries will also have many parent resources covering a wide variety of parenting interests from pre-natal to kindergarten transition. The Mobile Toy Lending Libraries will be available at THV Group Connections within Montgomery County.

We have had great attendance at our first two community meetings and we are excited about the positive media attention they have received. Laredo's NBC affiliate, KGNS, covered the South Texas meeting along with the local Univision affiliate and the Laredo Morning Times. The Central Texas meeting in San Marcos (pictured above) inspired a story on Texas Standard about DFPS's heightened focus on prevention and early intervention. The story aired on public radio stations in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and North Texas.

Both the Houston/Gulf Coast and Metroplex/North Texas meetings are currently at capacity. We are working to open up some extra slots at each of those meetings. If you have registered and realize that you will be unable to attend, please cancel your reservation so that someone from the waitlist can attend.

Click the link below to register for the event nearest to your location. Lunch will be provided for registered guests. We look forward to seeing you all at the various meetings.

Houston/ Gulf Coast  March 8
The Council on Drugs and Alcohol - 303 Jackson Hill Street
Houston, TX 77007

Metroplex/ North Texas  March 10
Goodwill Industries of Dallas - 3020 N. Westmoreland Road
Dallas, TX 75212

El Paso and West Texas March 22  
El Paso County Juvenile Justice Center - 6400 Delta Drive
El Paso, Texas  79905

Panhandle/ High Plains  March 24 
Amarillo National Bank - 410 S. Taylor, 16th Floor
Amarillo, TX 79101 

The new revised reports are located on the Texas Home Visiting website "Resources" page. Please discard all past saved forms and begin using the new report forms. We will accept January updates on the old forms (November 2016); all February submissions should be completed on the revised update dated February 2016. The following revisions were added:

Monthly Program Report:

• "Directions" now correctly reflect which pages to complete 1-5 (old form stated 1-4).
• Due date from the Community Leads is the 30th day of the following month (old form was dated the 15th).
• Question 2 "Current Caseload" now indicates that this should be the last day of the month (this was established to ensure consistency of reporting).
• Question 3 "Job Position" now requires that if you're a supervisor, based on the THV definition, to please state "SUPERVISOR" and no other title.

Community Lead Quarterly Report:

• Page 7, question 20 was updated to clarify question 19 if it was not answered.

Questions? Contact Noko.Wilson@hhsc.state.tx.us or call 512-420-2874.

THV, in partnership with First3Years, is offering two-day mini-conferences for home visitors around Texas. The two days of training will cover four topics – Social-Emotional Development, Toxic Stress, Cultural Competency, and Self-Care/Compassion Fatigue. These trainings are free and meals will be provided. Click on the following links for more information and to register. If a session is full, please sign-up for the waiting list so you can be informed as tickets become available. 

March 3-4 McAllen, TX

March 31- April 1 Houston, TX

April 21-22 Odessa, TX
 

The Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Division of the Department of Family and Protective Services is preparing to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Healthy Outcomes through Prevention and Early Support (HOPES) III Program. The purpose of HOPES is to build collaborative, sustainable, and innovative family support systems that include a family service coalition; as well as evidence-based or promising practice services to strengthen families with children 0-5 years of age. This RFP will fund services in up to eight of the following counties: Bexar, Bell, Brazoria, Brazos, Collin, Denton, Ellis, Fort Bend, Galveston, Guadalupe, Hays, Johnson, Montgomery, Smith, Tarrant, and Williamson.

Please join us to learn more about this funding opportunity and the vision for the HOPES III Program. PEI will host webinars at two different times. The content of the webinars will be exactly the same so you only need to register for one. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Join us for a webinar on March 08 at 3:00-4:30 PM CST.
Click here to register

OR

Join us for a webinar on March 11 at 11:00AM-12:30 PM CST.
Click here to register
 

Kaiser Health News recently featured a study that finds very young children who endure neglect, abuse, and dysfunctional home lives, go on to struggle as kindergartners, leaving them at risk for more difficult years as adolescents and adults. Program sites may use study findings of this type as research in grant requests, etc. Click here to learn more