PRESS RELEASE                             
For Immediate Release
March 2004

Parents Under Construction Program Receives Character Education Partnership National Promising Practices Citation

The Parents Under Construction program, created by local non-profit organization ChildBuilders in collaboration with the Houston Independent School district (HISD), has been awarded a Promising Practices Citation by the Character Education Partnership, a national organization based in Washington, DC.

Parents Under Construction is a curriculum that teaches preschool through high school students and their parents topics such as child development, communication, non-violent conflict resolution, and positive discipline skills that will enable them to build healthy relationships today and strong families in the future. The program, consisting of four developmentally appropriate curricula, was created by ChildBuilders to teach children today the parenting skills they will need tomorrow.

Since the creation of Parents Under Construction in 1992, over 2,200 professionals and volunteers have been trained in the curriculum, which is available in English and Spanish, and more than 45,000 children have participated in the program. Parents Under Construction has been proven effective in 15 independently conducted evaluations and honored with five awards. The curriculum has been designated an approved program by the Children’s Trust Fund of Texas and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.

Dr. Rod Paige, former Superintendent of HISD and current U.S. Secretary of Education, states: “The Parents Under Construction program has the potential to make an enormous difference in the educational ability of future students. I strongly encourage other school districts and community-based organizations to implement this program.”

Parents Under Construction is one of several programs that ChildBuilders offers. Other programs include:

• ChildBuilders Community Education Program- disseminates mental health and parent education informational brochures to over 400 sites.

• Family Centered Child Care Collaborative (FC4), one of the 10 participating agencies- FC4 acknowledges the influential role of the family on a child and aims to enhance healthy child development by providing parent education.

• ChildBuilders We Help Ourselves Program (WHO)- child abuse prevention program that uses volunteers to teach children how to avoid victimization.

• ChildBuilders Adults and Children Together program- Educates adults about child abuse and prepare parents and teachers to appropriately handle a child’s disclosure of abuse.

ChildBuilders mission is to provide innovative programs to educate parents, children, teachers, and the community about the emotional well being of children and their families.

For more information about The Parents Under Construction Program please contact:

Janet Pozmantier- Parents Under Construction Director

7000 Regency Square, Suite 230
Houston, TX 77036
Phone:(713) 783-8470 –X25
Fax: (713) 783-8858

www.childbuilders.org