A systematic plan for making effective parenting and parenting education national priorities has been created by CICC's Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Kerby T. Alvy. It is called, "A National Effective Parenting Initiative to Make the United States of America a Model Child and Family-Friendly Nation."

Dr. Alvy and CICC are in the process of advocating for the adoption and implementation of this far-reaching and badly needed national initiative.

Information about and copies of the National Effective Parenting Initiative are available on CICC's website and can be obtained by clicking here.

Since the beginning of 2005, CICC has been delivering numerous parenting classes and seminars in cooperation with other child serving organizations.

These classes teach the parenting skills and strategies of such well-known national model programs as Confident Parenting, Effective Black Parenting and Los Ninos Bien Educados.

Local organizations and school districts who have been contracting with CICC to bring these classes and seminars to the parents they serve have been doing this for many purposes.

For example, an upcoming one-day seminar in the Effective Black Parenting Program that the Polk County Schools in Florida is contracting to have delivered on October 20, 2005, is not only intended to educate upwards of 100 African American parents from the district to be more effective. It is also being utilized, according to the District's Director of Minority Relations, Otis T. Anthony, to inspire local clergy and businesses to become part of the district's overall school reform efforts. Such individuals are being invited to attend the seminar to see first hand how their schools are helping the student's parents to be more effective.

To bring seminars and classes to your community, click here.

Since the beginning of 2005, CICC has conducted instructor workshops in seven different cities. These workshops have enabled numerous groups to have their staffs trained and certified to conduct evidenced-based parenting programs for the parents of the children that their organizations serve.

Research on these professionally-led workshops shows that graduates use what they have learned to accomplish a variety of goals. The research shows the graduates return to their agencies and communities to run parenting classes for groups of parents, to train individual parents, to deliver community presentations about the importance of effective parenting, to train staff in using positive parenting skills, and to better relate to their colleagues, spouses and their own children (see Parent Training Today).

The following are some of the workshops that CICC conducted since January 2005 and some of the organizations who had their staffs trained in each workshop.

Los Angeles, California - January
Los Ninos Bien Educados Workshop

• United Way of Greater Los Angeles
• Volunteers of America Head Start
• Wilmington Community Clinic

Since January 2005, CICC has added numerous parenting and child development books, videos, CDs and parenting instructor kits to its online bookstore, so that more parents and organizations can become better informed and educated.

New additions have included all five volumns of The Handbook of Parenting and a CD of all five volumns, Dr. Harvey Karp's books, tapes and DVDs about his revolutionary methods for soothing crying and fussy infants, The Happiest Baby on the Block, and the works of Dr. Russell Barkley
regarding how to help parents and professionals better manage and treat defiant children.

Some of the 390 organizations nationwide who have obtained these and other helpful educational materials since the beginning of 2005 include:

• Albany State University, Georgia
• Baltimore City Head Start
• Board of Education, Illinois
• California Gear Up
• Catholic Charities, Colorado
• Center Academy, Michigan
• Charles R. Drew University, Los Angeles
• Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
• Clark County Social Services, Wisconsin
• Community Connections for Families, Pittsburgh
• Counseling Solutions, Atlanta
• Department of Human Services, North Dakota
• Durant Indian Education, Oklahoma
• Dysart School District, Arizona
• East Central Community Center, Washington

Dr. Alvy consulted on and will be an expert guest on the Discovery Health Channel's one-hour special on raising twins, triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets, called Multiple Mayhem. The special is to be aired on October 6, 2005 at 8:00p.m. and 11:00p.m., and on October 8, 2005, at 12:00p.m. (check your local listings to confirm times and locate channel).

As the press release for this special indicates, "More twins, triplets, quadruplets, and even quintuplets are becoming part of modern family experience. Scientific advances have found it possible for more and more mothers to carry multiples to a safe delivery date. But making it through the pregnancy is just the beginning. How do families cope with their multiple blessings at home?"

The show follows four families as they navigate through the trials, tribulations and mayhem of multiples. Along the way, parenting experts like Dr. Alvy offer support and helpful advice. The other featured experts include Dr. Harvey Karp ("The Happiest Baby on the Block"), author Armin Brott ("A Dad's Guide to the Toddler Years") and education consultant and CICC parenting seminar leader, Dr. Reggie Clarke.

To further honor and educate parents, Dr. Kerby T. Alvy, the founder and executive director of the Center for the Improvement of Child Caring, earlier this year initiated his own web blog, EducatedParenting.com.

There, Dr. Alvy is sharing his over 30 years of experiences and knowledge in the fields of effective parenting and parenting education. Through bi-weekly posts or messages, he is addressing a wide range of topics and issues that are of importance to parents and to professionals that work with parents and children.

Included are information and viewpoints on the latest research on parenting and child development, commentary on current events and government actions, the teaching of specific parenting skills like effective praising, and the sharing of other resources to assist parents in being as effective and peaceful as possible in raising the next generation.

Your opinions and ideas are valued on EducatedParenting.com. You can share them and Dr. Alvy will respond.

You can also sign-up to be alerted to the issues that are being addressed, so that you won't miss important discussions.