ALBANY 8/22: Free School Supplies Available for Enrolled K-12 Students

The Back to School Bash provides FREE school supplies to students in grades K-12 with proof of enrollment.

The event will be held on Saturday, August 22 from 10AM to 3PM at In Our Own Voices, 245 Lark Street, Albany, NY 12210.

For more information, please call (518) 432-4188.

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Patricia "Tricia" Colon

Patricia "Tricia" Colon

Tricia is an active member of NYSPEP’s Steering Committee. She recently applied for the Tier II Parenting Educator Credential. Her application portfolio will undergo panel review and is pending approval.

Tricia started her career as an Elementary Education teacher. In 1993, she became a new mother and quickly grew her family to five children. Like many of the parents she observed while teaching, Tricia also sought guidance, direction, and support from her children’s teachers in order to raise her children in the best possible way.

In 2013, Tricia served as a Leave Replacement High School Counselor. Once again, she witnessed parents looking to school professionals for help in raising their teenage children. Through these experiences, decades of conversations with parents, and an awareness that loving a child and rearing a child are not the same, Tricia has developed a passion for supporting parents in raising healthy children through positive parenting.

Tricia holds a Master of Science in School Counseling from Long Island University and Master of Arts, Elementary Curriculum and Design from Columbia University. She has a conversational knowledge of Spanish and previously served as a substitute bilingual high school counselor in Huntington, NY.

"All my roads have led me to emphatically learn about raising healthy children and positive parenting so I can be a role model for others."

Judith M. Nordstrom: June 3, 1947 - April 17, 2015

Judith "Judy" M. Nordstrom

Judith M. Nordstrom, 67, of Townsend, MA, formerly of Truxton, NY passed away Friday evening, April 17th, 2015 with her children at her side. She was born in Concord, MA to the late Charles “Bud” Vidito and Elizabeth Bourke Vidito. She will be missed and lovingly remembered by her husband of 37 years, Gerald A. Nordstrom; brother: Bruce Vidito; sister: Elizabeth Farfaras; children: Eric Mannion, Tiffany Mannion, Kristy Mannion, Noelle Nordstrom, and Michael Nordstrom; grandchildren: David Mannion, Brianna Mannion, Erika Shufeldt, Danielle Mannion, Dana Mannion, Natalie Shufeldt, Jessica Mannion; and mother to Elizabeth Arcieri, Deborah Dwight, Diana Mendes, Carol Lincoln, Cynthia Nordstrom, Heather Dunlap, Jerry Nordstrom and 17 grandchildren. 

Mrs. Nordstrom was founder and Lead Educator of TEPE Training Institute, created the multi-modal “thematic module” concept in curricula design, unveiled at the Center for Parenting Education at the University of North Texas. She developed the F.A.C.T.S. Model, used in training parenting educators and the “Parenting Education Matrix”, a needs assessment and evaluation tool and served as an honorary member of the New York State Parenting Educator Partnership (NYSPEP) Steering Committee.  

A funeral with collation will be held at 11 am on Saturday, May 2nd, at the First Baptist Church in West Townsend, MA.   

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to New York State Parenting Education Partnership (NYSPEP). 

Please make checks payable to “Prevent Child Abuse New York”, fiscal agent for NYSPEP. Please indicate “NYSPEP / Judy Nordstrom Memory” in the memo field on the face of the check. 

Please mail donation to: 

NYSPEP Coordinator 

c/o Prevent Child Abuse New York 

33 Elk Street, 2nd Floor 

Albany, NY 12207

To read Judy's original NYSPEP Member Spotlight, please visit: 

http://nyspep.blogspot.com/2013/08/nyspep-member-spotlight-judy-nordstrom.html

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Kate Provencher

Kate Provencher is a Program Specialist in the Division of Integrated Community Services for Families and Children, NYS Office of Mental Health. In this capacity she oversees several prevention and early intervention initiatives that promote the importance of children’s social emotional health and early identification of problems. These initiatives include the Early Recognition Screening Initiative and Project TEACH (Training and Education for the Advancement of Children’s Health).

Kate also serves on NYSPEP's Steering Committee. She is a member of NYSPEP's newly emerging workgroup that is exploring connections between parenting educators and pediatricians, as well as related practitioners and providers of health services for families with children.

Prior to joining the Office of Mental Health in 2013, Kate’s experience included working for over 20 years in community mental health as a clinician, supervisor and coordinator of Trauma Recovery services.

NYSPEP Renews Membership with NPEN

NYSPEP is pleased to announce our renewed Organizational Membership with NPEN, the National Parenting Education Network. NPEN provides a variety of resources for parenting educators and networking on the national level.

The 2015 Organizational Membership allows NYSPEP's website (www.nyspep.org) to be listed on NPEN's website. Up to five NYSPEP representatives are granted access to post to the NPEN list-serve. The representatives are also eligible to join NPEN Committees if they wish.

The following NYSPEP Steering Committee members have been selected to represent NYSPEP's Organizational Membership with NPEN in 2015:

• Tim Hathaway, Prevent Child Abuse New York
• Liz Hood, New York State Education Department
• Susan Perkins, New York State Council on Children and Families
• Deirdre Sherman, New York State Office of Children and Family Services / Children and Family Trust Fund
• Rebecca Widrick, New York State Council on Children and Families

Two additional NYSPEP Steering Committee members are currently serving on the NPEN Council:

• Meg Akabas, Parenting Solutions and author of 52 Weeks of Parenting Wisdom
• Judith Rae "Judy" Wolf, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Tioga County

NPEN is committed to the advancement of the field of parenting education. For more information, please visit www.npen.org/.

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Deirdre Sherman

Deirdre Sherman is a Program Manager with the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), NYS Children and Family Trust Fund, and serves on NYSPEP’s Executive Committee. Her work at OCFS includes support, technical assistance, and oversight for programs funded through the Trust Fund, including Family Resource Centers, home visiting and parent education programs, and elder abuse prevention programs. She also provides support for the Safe Babies New York, a statewide initiative which provides education on abusive head trauma (Shaken Baby Syndrome) and safe sleeping practices to parents of newborns at all 134 maternity hospitals across the state.

Prior to OCFS, Deirdre worked at Occupations, Inc.*, a non-profit human service agency in Orange County, NY. She began her 15 year term with the agency as a home visitor in the agency's family development program, an intensive home visitation program providing parenting education, coaching, and skill building for families under family court supervision. Deirdre then worked as a school-based caseworker and went on to become a casework supervisor. She supervised a Healthy Families New York site in Orange County for several years.

Deirdre holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Rochester. She is passionate about strengthening families by building protective factors at the family and community level to prevent child abuse and neglect.

Deirdre enjoys time with family including her husband of more than thirty years, her three children, and one grandchild. Deirdre also volunteers to assist with activities and events to support a homeless shelter in Middletown, NY. In her spare time, she enjoys walking with dogs, bird-watching, and reading.

 *now known as Access: Supports for Living

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Tim Hathaway

Tim Hathaway, former Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota, joins Prevent Child Abuse New York as its new Executive Director and fiscal agent for NYSPEP. Tim also serves as Co-chair for the NYSPEP Executive Committee.

Tim brings 28 years of experience with children and families and has a strong commitment to the work of supporting parents as they create healthy environments for their children. He is passionate about eliminating racial disparities, driving best practice standards for Child Abuse Prevention, excellence in non-profit administration and advancing place-based, partner-driven solutions.

Prior to Prevent Child Abuse, Tim spent almost 20 years with Head Start programs in a variety of capacities including Parent and Child Centers, Early Head Start, Head Start and the federal Technical Assistance Network.  Early in his career, Tim managed and directed early care and learning programs for the YMCA and faith-based communities.  Tim believes in the value of professional development and has been a trainer and consultant to early childhood professionals for 25 years.

Tim believes NYSPEP is well-positioned to drive leading-edge prevention work for families in New York.

Tim states, "As a network of professionals working to expand the field, we have the potential to reach thousands of families and community members.  This reach is critical to normalizing parenting approaches that build resiliency in children. In a sea of voices, NYSPEP provides leadership based on evidence, experience and systematic solution finding."