What We Do
While schools by themselves should not be expected to solve New Orleans' most serious health and social problems, it is practical to transform them by bringing multiple agencies together onsite to serve children, their families, and neighbors in these ways - above and beyond, all centered around the education and overall well-being of young children.
Our pilot project is Mahalia Jackson Early Childhood & Family Learning Center. Mahalia Jackson Center brings the programs and services for which Central City families have expressed needs, together under one roof, with one welcoming point of registration for all services, right in the heart of the neighborhood.
Our Promise: No One is Turned Away.
ECFLF and Mahalia Jackson Center partners believe that all of our children - and their families - deserve this innovative, non-blaming, holistic kind of support.
If there is a service we do not offer to an eligible member, we find out who does, and we help them access that assistance.
You can learn more about our work in action at our pilot project at www.mahaliajacksoncenter.org.
Reaching Beyond Mahalia Jackson Center .... Into The Community:
ECFLF's 10-Component Coordinated School Health Program:
In addition to the Early Childhood & Family Learning programs we're operating out of Mahalia Jackson Center, ECFLF is implementing a Coordinated School Health plan, starting with supplementing basic school health care and tracking students at four schools in Central City. Schools make perfect "health hubs" for communities, and we plan to take this model city-wide.
The ECFLF-driven Coordinated School Health Model in Central City:
Child Care & Family Outreach:
ECFLF also conducts outreach to several child cares in Central City, providing technical assistance and professional development to enhance (a) program performance (b) academic success for preschool age children, and (c) children’s readiness for school.
The main objective of this initiative is to ensure that children’s reading levels at the exit of kindergarten are at grade level expectations / at their optimal ability levels, helping to ensure future and long term success.
ECFLF’s Outreach Program also aims to ensure the academic, health, and social needs of children are met through seamless delivery of services at Mahalia Jackson Center and as they transition to school, and through collaboration with all relevant service providers to ensure there are no gaps in services.
Mahalia Jackson Center Arts Council
Mahalia Jackson Center Arts Council serves as the designated Arts & Humanities advisory group to guide the development, adoption, and implementation of arts/humanities related programs and special events at the Center and in the extended Central City community. This Council actively pursues collaborative relationships that result in generating programs and special events.
Arts Council Members:
Cedric Scott, MENnovation
Maureen Iverson, Maple Street Book Store
Ellen Balkin, Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Holly Bell, Prime Time / Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
Madelyn Bonnot Griffin, Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium
Nadra Harrison Hall, Louisiana Equal Voice Institute
Brooke Pickett, Central City Artist Project
Sheila Prevost, Central City Branch /New Orleans Public Library
Miranda Restovic, Prime Time / Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
Sonya Robinson, Artist Corps New Orleans
Shacara Lewis Waithe, Louisiana Equal Voice Institute
Other partner organizations
Artfully Aware
Artist Corps New Orleans
Ashe Cultural Arts Center
Bruce Davenport, Jr.
Café Reconcile
Carol Bebelle, Director, Ashé Cultural Arts Center
Cecelia Tapplette-Pedescleaux, Artist
Central City Artist Project
Central City Renaissance Alliance
Circle of Courage
Clifton Faust
Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians
David Johnson, Executive Editor, Art Director: Louisiana Cultural Vistas Magazine, LEH
Early Childhood & Family Learning Foundation
Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans
Young Audiences/WolftrapFoster Bear Films
Jackie Sumell, Artist
John Barnes, Artist
Kate Finlayson’s Nia Dance
Keith Duncan, Artist
Khalil Osiris, Director, Circle of Courage
Kid Camera Project
LA Equal Voice Institute
Lafargue Piano Lab
Lance Lafargue
LEH
Lori Waselchuk, Artist
Louise Mouton,Artist
Louisiana Children’s Museum
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
MJC Arts Council
Mora Beauchamp-Byrd, Art Historian, Xavier University
Ms. Hyster’s BBQ
Natalie Keller Barnes, Artist
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc.
New Orleans Jazz Institute
New Orleans Kid Camera Project
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
OPSB
Orleans Parish School Board and Mahalia Jackson School
Prime Time Family Reading Time
Prospect New Orleans
Prospect NOLA
Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium
Resurrection After Exoneratio
Ron Bechet, Artist, Xavier University
Saturday Music School
Silence is Violence
Southern University at New Orleans
Steve Gomez
SUNO/CAAAS
The Innocence Project
Tom Lowenstein, Policy Director, Innocence Project New Orleans
Total Community Action/Head Start/Early Head Start
Willie Birch, Artist
Xavier University of Louisiana
Yamaha Music Education System
Young Audiences
FLIP! Literacy Initiative
Family Literacy in Play (FLiP!) is one of many programs offered by the Early Childhood & Family Learning Foundation at the Mahalia Jackson Center and in Central City. The goal of FLiP ! is to create a vibrant culture of literacy in Central City by providing numerous resources and experiences for families. FLiP ! works in collaboration with Mahalia Jackson Center and community partners including the New Orleans Public Library, LA Endowment for the Humanities, Total Community Action, and the New Orleans Public School Board as well as neighborhood child care centers. FLiP ! activities contribute to the ultimate objective of 100% of children in Central City entering kindergarten ready to learn and later graduating from high school.
