Research and Evaluation

CURET maintains close ties with the community in a number of ways, but most prominently through our primary vehicles of communication—The West Indian American, its online website www.wianews.com, and the CURET website www.curetinc.org. Other means of reaching out to target audiences include local radio Public Service Announcements, community television, flyers, email, and our presence at events throughout the Capitol region.

 

Adult Literacy

In our Adult Literacy program, we address specific needs which are related to limited English-language skills. We realize that adults that have low English-language skills face significant barriers, and we are here to help. These barriers include poor comprehension and communication, limited opportunities for job advancement, sporadic employment, and limited access and insufficient interactions with service providers. CURET addresses these crucial needs through its comprehensive approach to Adult Literacy. Not only does our program address specific needs in relation to a variety of life skill areas, but also teaches on a variety of levels. Our learning environment is comfortable, and never intimidating with small class sizes to encourage advancement and addressing the individual needs of the student.

 

Parenting Education

CURET’s Parent-Child Workshops promote positive parenting skills, and offers insights to increase parental involvement and their effectiveness in advocating for children’s education in the public school system in Hartford, showing parents “the ropes” to enhance their children’s learning at home, and to increase the level of parental participation in Hartford Public Schools.  

 

Newcomer's Adjustment

CURET’s Newcomer's Resource Handbook covers an assortment of informational topics, giving support to the orientation of newcomers to the greater Hartford area. We focus on essential knowledge about services and how to access them; advocacy and referrals; highlighting service that remedies specific problems, providing insights on how to navigate the various systems, and much more aimed at enhancing the quality of life and overall well-being of newcomers.

 

Summer Academic Tutoring and Enrichment

• Academic tutorial enrichment is designed for students who are experiencing academic success but need reinforcing and strengthening at varied skill levels in language arts and math, preparing students for the new school year in the fall.

• The summer program aims at enhancing learning and increasing grade-level performance.

• The program, offered for grades 1-8, integrates regular schooling with the summer curriculum that teaches problem solving, test-taking strategies, and organization skills.

• Pre- and post-tests are administered to assess students’ overall needs and serve as a guide to an instructional plan for advancement.

• The program integrates both work and play, with academic lessons as well as recreational activities, and field trips to educational sites. Students also have the opportunity to earn awards based on both academic and recreational goals and achievements.

• Year-Round tutoring is offered to middle and high school students to help guard against failure, delinquency or dropouts .

 

Health Literacy and Related Outreach Programs

CURET teams up with health care centers, providers, and others in addressing the needs of medically underserved populations, offering workshops, seminars, conferences, health promotion, preventive care services and early intervention, including the mental health of children, families, and individuals. The goal is to support health care centers and providers to strengthen their capacity to deliver high-quality services, to enhance health care communications, to highlight the concerns of culturally diverse constituents; and to enhance patients’ capacity to self-manage their care in a challenging multi-cultural, changing health care environment.

 

Financial and Insurance Literacy Workshops

Financial Literacy: Utilizing our partnerships with Mortgage Lenders, Mortgage Attorneys, and Residential Real Estate Firms, our Consumer Credit Counseling workshops provide insight on improving credit scores, refinancing options, ways to pre-empt foreclosures, and guidance to enable access to economic opportunities and empowerment within reach in the residents’ neighborhood.

 

Insurance Literacy: CURET brings representatives and agents of insurance companies into the community to offer seminars and workshops that address the concerns of residents, while providing important information on various types of insurance products.

Entrepreneurial Empowerment: CURET offers workshops for trades men and women.wishing to improve their skills in “start-to-finish” conceptualization, research, development, implementation, bidding processes, marketing, and communication. To address these specific deficits, CURET offers classes with emphasis on business writing and project management for partipants' respective occupations.

 

Technology Literacy: Through our computer classes and workshops, we provide step-by-step instruction to build computer skills and an understanding of technology concepts. Our classes focus on the acquisition of basic computer and technology knowledge with hands-on applications and practice, plus an understanding of the impact of technology on society; use of the Internet as a tool to access information and for employment networking; Email—sending and receiving; developing and using career tools such as resumes and online postings, and locating employment opportunities.

 

Employment Readiness: We offer pointers for strengthening interviewing skills, connecting with a network of potential employers and employment agencies, making personal contacts on behalf of jobseekers, and making referrals to employers.

 

Citizenship, Civic Literacy, and Other Related Services for Immigrants

Workshops Focusing on Immigrants, Citizenship, Civic Duties and Responsibilities: The thrust of our workshops is on vital topical areas that address the needs of immigrants, helping them to become more informed and integrated into the community, thereby enhancing their everyday lives and their successful assimilation into the community, facilitating their civic engagement as they become active participants in their “home away from home,” while allowing them to reach new heights.

 

Citizenship and Civic Literacy:  We offer classes to prepare immigrants to become naturalized citizens of the United States . Our presentations include U.S. history and government; the naturalization process. the Naturalization Test; how  one prepares for the naturalization interview and citizenship test; orientation to U.S. culture, incorporating civic and cultural institutions; workshops on civic responsibilities, duties, and understanding one’s rights as a citizen, and how to become civically engaged.

 

Annual Community-wide Education Awareness Rally, Forum and/or Workshop

CURET’s Annual Community-Wide Education Awareness Rally/Conference/Workshop is convened in the fall, at the inception of each new school year. The focus is to heighten awareness in the community under the banner theme: “Education Matters.” This is a response from CURET to the community and to awaken forethoughts and the sensibilities of participants—parents, families, students, educators and other stakeholders—that a school and home culture of failure, low expectation and performance, low motivation and non-involvement are not proper. Participants learn about, and are engaged to explore various solutions.

 

Media/Communication Outreach

CURET maintains close ties with the community in a number of ways, but most prominently through our primary vehicles of communication—The West Indian American, its online website www.wianews.com, and the CURET website www.curetinc.org. Other means of reaching out to target audiences include local radio Public Service Announcements, community television, flyers, email, and our presence at events throughout the Capitol region.