Project Details
HIPPY Corps Evaluation
Description
In this project, CFS staff will provide consultation to HIPPY USA and HIPPYCorps sites concerning design and implementation of the evaluation of the HIPPYCorps initiative, including selection and development of assessment instruments, training on evluation procedures and test administration and analysis of the data. HIPPYCorps is a project of HIPPY USA, funded through the Corporation for National and Community Service. The initiative provides educational stipends for HIPPY home visitors who complete a specified number of service hours. HIPPY is a home visiting program for caregivers of young children designed to increase school readiness and foster parent involvement in their children's education and in community life. All HIPPY programs around the world follow the HIPPY model: a developmentally appropriate curriculum, with role play as the method of teaching, staffed by home visitors from the community, supervised by a professional coordinator and conducted through home visits and group meetings. A model HIPPY site serves up to 180 children with one coordinator and 12-18 part-time home visitors. The HIPPY program is delivered by home visitors who are members of the participating communities and are also parents in the program. They visit participating parents in their homes biweekly to instruct them in using the HIPPY educational materials. Home visitors are crucial to the HIPPY model. Their knowledge of their unique communities allows them to develop trusting relationships with the families and, by using the HIPPY materials with their own children, home visitors identify with the kinds of challenges parents face. Many of HIPPY's Home Visitors are AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage Americans in intensive service to meet critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment. AmeriCorps members serve through 2,100 nonprofits, public agencies, and faith-based organizations. They tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams, and help communities respond to disasters.