The “Be the One” Parenting Class received accolades last month, and now the program is up to potentially receive grant funding.

The class was one of three programs recognized nationally by DomesticShelters.org as an “Outstanding Community Presentation or Education.”

The program is now up to potentially take home cash when $30,000 worth of grants are awarded during a virtual Purple Ribbon Award celebration ceremony on Sept. 21.

“Be the One” Parenting Class is run as a collaboration between Lebanon Family Health Services and Domestic Violence Intervention of Lebanon County. The curriculum was developed and piloted between 2017 and 2019 and based on the following principles:

  • Relationships with caring, responsive adults and early positive experiences build strong brain architecture for children. 
  • Significant stress from ongoing hardship or threat disrupts the biological foundations of learning, behavior, and health, with lifelong consequences. 
  • Providing the right ingredients for healthy development from the start produces better outcomes than trying to fix problems later.

“We started recognizing that the curriculum we were using just wasn’t addressing the trauma that parents in the class had experienced in their own lives,” said Lebanon Family Health Services CEO Kim Kreider Umble in a press release. “So we tag-teamed with DVI and created one that would.”

“Be the One is an example of how local professionals came together to make and offer something that works for local parents right here in Lebanon County,” said Mike Ritter, deputy director of DVI and co-creator of Be the One, in a press release.

For more information or to register for a Be the One class, visit Lebanon Family Health Services’ website.

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