Northmore Beacon Center

The students of  Northmore Beacon Center toured the Channel 12 News Station today and had the opportunity to participate in questioning the News Anchors. (Rick Blackwell and Emily Pantelides).  Our students also had the opportunity to stand in front of the green screen and do a mocked weather presentation. The students also had the chance to individually answer a question about what would they like to accomplish during the summer. Lastly we all did the Good Morning South Florida shout out . Everything is scheduled to air June 17th, 2010 from 5:00 am - 7:00 am on Channel 12. The students are very excited about the opportunity to see themselves on television.

The West Palm Beach Chapter of The Links, Incorporated began its Childhood Obesity Initiative in September 2009, an ongoing program designed to target middle and high school aged students, in an effort to educate them on the consequences of childhood obesity, and methods to improve eating habits and increase physical activity. The program includes monthly sessions designed to monitor the students’ progress to evaluate their eating habits and physical activity and to provide a positive impact by demonstrating progress of the students in terms of improved eating habits, physical activity, and overall education about childhood obesity.

The West Beach Chapter of The Links, Incorporated initiated a long-term partnership with Northmore Elementary School’s Beacon Center. The Beacon Center is an after school program for middle and high school students. The students are primarily minorities, many of whom struggle with childhood obesity. The Links meet with the students once per month, for at least an hour, and provide a detailed childhood obesity curriculum for the students. The program has included presentations from guest speakers, including nationally-recognized personal trainer and registered nurse Derek Dodd. Each month the students are provided with calendars utilized to monitor their progress in improving eating habits and physical activity. The calendars are reviewed each month in an effort to re-evaluate the needs of the students and identify areas of improvement. The students are rewarded with prizes.

November 2009: Guest Speaker Derek Dodd, R.N., Nationally Renowned Personal Trainer
Mr. Dodd volunteered an hour of his time to work with students. He spoke about healthy eating habits and demonstrated several exercises the students can do at home to ensure that they are getting physical activity on a daily basis.

January 2010: Links Members Present “The Important of Proper Nutrition”
featuring materials from the www.mypyramid.gov website

“Stamping Out Childhood Obesity” is an Umbrella Program, which includes contributions from all facets. The following is a description of contributions to date, as well as future presentations.

The Arts Facet
The Arts Facet hosted the 2009 Poster Arts Contest in conjunction with the West Palm Beach Chapter’s Annual Walk-A-Thon. The theme of the Walk-A-Thon was “Stamping Out Childhood Obesity,” with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Palm Beach County Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. During our
October meeting with the students, each student created a poster centered around the Walk-A-Thon theme. In addition, several students and their families attended and participated in the Walk-A-Thon.

Services to Youth
The Services to Youth Facet is developing an exercise video designed to educate and motivate students to increase their physical activity. The Beacon students will serve as actors performing the suggested exercises on the video, which will be led by Certified Personal Trainers, who have previously provided warm-up exercises at The Links’ Annual Walk-A-Thon. The video will be produced by the Children’s Coalition, Inc. a local non-profit organization providing exposure to minority students in the areas of visual arts. The video will be distributed to local middle and high school students. The taping will take place on April 20, 2010.

International Trends & Services
The International Pen Pal Program will be a collaborative effort between students from the Bahamas. The Beacon center students will serve as pen pals, and share ideas and information on childhood obesity. The letter writing campaign is scheduled for February 16, 2010.

We have developed a program and have monthly presentations through Links members and guest speakers designed to give them information about proper nutrition, healthy eating habits and the importance of physical activity. By reviewing the students’ calendars each month we determined that the students were limited by the foods that were offered at school or purchased by their parents. We suggested that they make an effort to make the healthiest choices and to play an active role in grocery shopping to assist their parents in purchasing healthier eating options.

To date, the program has been a success. We have seen a significant shift in the thought processes of the students, and they are now making efforts to control what they eat and what they do. We look forward to continuing our work with the Beacon Center.


Pahokee Beacon Center
Tuesdays at Pahokee Beacon Center
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
560 East Main Pl.
Pahokee, Florida 33476


Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies has now co-located to the Pahokee Beacon Center. Services will be provided on Tuesdays of each week from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This collaboration of services enables Pahokee moms-to-be and future dads access to an array of prenatal and parenting services. 

HMHB is a prenatal, community-oriented program that ensures women are enrolled with a health provider for prenatal care and can access additional social services, outreach programs for high-risk, hard-to-reach women, and hospital liaisons to inform and register new moms for Healthy Start. 

HMHB also bring a variety of other components to include the Male Health Advocate program, classes that encourages male involvement during pregnancy; Conflict Resolution, classes that teach elementary school children how to handle conflict; and Babysitting 101, a class that teaches adolescents the basics of babysitting and child safety and development. 

Pahokee Beacon is committed to becoming the hub for community and social services, reducing transportation disparities and enhancing the quality of life through service access.

For more details, please call (561) 452-6338 or (561) 924-3008.  

CLASSES                                                 DAYS                                     TIME
Intro to COMPUTERS                         Mondays – Thursdays                  6:00 – 8:00pm
Pre-GED                                           Tuesdays & Thursdays                 5:00 – 7:00pm
Middle School Teen Program              Mondays – Saturdays*                  3:30 – 7:00pm
*Parents will be notified prior to Saturday events

FREE CHILDWATCH IS OFFERED AT EACH EVENT!
For more information on any workshop/event listed, please contact our main office and or
DENISE BOWEN at 561-494-1934 or dbowen@gocpg.org. 

  

Click here for Pahokee Beacon Community Center information/flyer.
 

Pioneer Park Beacon Center – Housing Partnership

Connecting Families to Resources

Pioneer Park Beacon Center operates as a community center on the campus of Pioneer Park Elementary in Belle Glade.  The Beacon Center is founded on the theme of family strengthening and community building.  The Beacon Center programming supports Children’s Services Council’s three sentinel outcomes: an increase in healthy births, a decrease in abuse/neglect of children ages 0-5, and children being ready and eager to learn when they enter kindergarten. The Beacon Center coordinates with a variety of key service providers and community stakeholders so that services are more accessible.  The Beacon connects people with resources and offers assistance to families with a host of available services that foster healthy, resilient children and families.

Teen Program (Middle School)
Pioneer Park Teen Program (Middle School) is family-centered and aims to engage youth in leadership development, positive social skills activities and career exploration.  The staff members emphasize the importance of doing well in school and provide homework assistance.  The Pioneer Park Teen Program boasts an overall program grade point average (GPA) of 3.0!

The Teen Program engages in meaningful community service activities that enhances their understanding of the needs of their community and encourages them to develop community service projects that will meet those needs. 

Adult & Community Programming
Pioneer Park Beacon Center coordinates an array of workshops, activities and events for parents and residents in the community. These are offered at the Beacon Center or at off-site locations that are accessible for families. The monthly calendar provides detailed offerings.  Examples include:

Smart Family Series: 
Adult ESOL 
Efficacy - Step up for Proficiency workshops facilitated by the School District of PBC 
Palm Beacon Community College’s Adult Education Support Program that provides academic & career counseling
Family literacy activities
Legal Aid support and assistance

Healthy Family Series:
Health and Wellness classes and Aerobics
Workshops addressing nutrition, disease prevention, pre-natal health and medical care, ‘birth to 5 year old’ health issues and immunization, stress reduction, etc.
Health Fairs with hearing, vision, dental & general health checks
Our Family Resource Center has access to learning materials and resources, as well as caring and supportive staff that can assist with referrals, as needed and requested by the resident.

Safe Family Series - Workshops that address:  
Safety with child car seats
Access to very inexpensive car seats and expert ‘fitting’ checks
Poison Control / What’s in your home & environment?
Holiday Safety and Awareness
Child First Aid/CPR
Stranger Danger
And many more topics

Money Smart Family Series: 
Prosperity Center Workshops (credit 101, financial literacy, budgeting & savings, etc)
1:1 Credit Counseling
IDA matched-savings program towards homeownership
First Time Home Buyer Preparation Workshops
Mortgage lending services
Rental assistance counseling
Free, on-site VITA services – tax preparation services 
Benefits-bank ACCESS partner through DCF.  Families can apply for Food Stamps, Medicaid and Cash Assistance.
SHARE Florida, a food distribution program that gives participants a savings of 50% on quality wholesome foods

Family Engagement Series 
Mommy and Me workshops - examples include: a series on Infant/Child Development, Healthy Nutrition, and the Advantages of Breastfeeding Your Baby
Parent - Child interactive activities 
Family / Community engagement events

All programs and activities are open to the public and most are free of charge.  The Beacon Center’s Community Advisory Council (CAC) meets monthly and provides ongoing support and feedback based on the needs of the community. As a part of our outreach efforts, we connect with our school families, local churches, nearby housing developments, local daycare centers and in-home childcare centers. Our staff are professional and culturally sensitive to the diversity in Belle Glade.  We focus on developing respectful, trusting and supportive relationships with those that come through the door, understanding that they know what they need.

Key Collaborative Partnerships
The Beacon Center has formed great collaborative partnerships with organizations in the local community.  This coordinated leveraging of resources provides our community with an accessible array of quality services that is effective and responsive to our families.  A few of the partners include:

United Way Prosperity Center
The Belle Glade Prosperity Center recently co-located at the elementary school and works collaboratively with the beacon staff to provide families better access to services that support economic self-sufficiency.  The program offers: homeownership services, financial fitness & budgeting workshops, credit counseling, rental assistance counseling, benefits-bank access, VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance), the IDA matched-savings program towards homeownership and first time home-buyer preparation workshops. 

First Care Family Resource Center
The First Care Family Resource Center is housed in the inner city of Belle Glade.  They provide low-income mothers with newborns through toddler age with medical care and support.  The Beacon coordinates series of parenting workshops that are offered weekly and on-site – each class is offered in English and then again in Spanish. Topics include Infant/Child Development and Stages of Development, Impact of Neglect and Abuse on the Family, Health and Nutrition, etc.  This partnership provides a more comprehensive support system for the families served.

School District of Palm Beach County- Safe Schools Institute
The Safe Schools Institute provides prevention and intervention opportunities for youth and their families who reside in our county.  The Beacon Center hosts the “Campaign for Proficiency” workshops facilitated by the skilled trainers from the Safe Schools Institute.  The trainers also work closely with the Beacon Center to monitor and follow up with families who have participated in previous Proficiency trainings. Families are empowered to take an active role in their child’s education, by continuing to engage in educational activities hosted at the Beacon Center. 

Safe Kids Coalition 
Safe Kids is a coalition of community partners that all have one common goal:  decreasing accidental injuries in children from birth to 14 years of age.  The Safe Kids staff provide workshops on Holiday Safety, Stranger Danger, Poison Prevention, and Making Your Home Safe.  Their major focus is on the need to utilize child safety seats when transporting infants and preschool youth. They can assist eligible parents access very inexpensive car seats and they will provide ‘safety seat fittings’ throughout the year so parents can be sure they are installing them properly.

C. L. Brumback Health Center
The Teen Program (Middle School) has been recognized and will be partnering with C.L. Brumback Health Center in its “Healthy Teens in the Glades Project”.  The project’s focus is “Teen Pregnancy Prevention”.  The Beacon Center will be the host site for this project.  Trained staff will engage the youth in dialogues and role plays geared to teaching them how to problem solve on health and safety issues.  At the end of the project, the Teens will be required to introduce the “Healthy Teens in the Glades Project” to the community, as a culminating leadership project.  



Department of Health Information on Flu Readiness
Click here for the Letter to Community
Self and Family Flu Care
Flu Readiness Shopping List

 

The SHARE Program
The SHARE (Self Help and Resource Exchange) program is a food cooperative that helps households stretch their food budgets and increase their access to nutritious foods. For just $18 a month, households can purchase food that would cost them $40 or more in stores. The food is the same quality found in grocery stores.

Please contact your area Beacon Center to participate in the SHARE program.

Beacon Afterschool Transition - FAQ
Click here for FAQ