More Information:
- Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
- Cantalician Center for Learning
- Child & Family Support Program of the Mental Health Association of Erie County, Inc.
- Connections: A Guide to Transitional Services in Erie County
- Erie County Department of Social Services, Children’s Services, Kinship Caregiver Manual
- Erie County Department of Social Services Kinship Unit
- EPIC—Every Person Influences Children, Inc.
- Kinship Consortium
- Mid-Erie Counseling and Treatment Services
- New York State Office for the Aging, Targeted Caregivers Initiative
- People, Inc.
- Parenting Without Instructions
- Mental Health Association in Niagara County, Inc.
- Support Groups for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
EPIC – Every Person Influences Children, Inc.
EPIC Parenting Workshops
EPIC - Every Person Influences Children SUCAB
1000 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14202
(716) 332-4100
Workshops on parenting as well as training for those volunteering to run workshops, 2 hours a week for 6 weeks.
Web site: www.epicforchildren.org
Founded in 1980, EPIC – Every Person Influences Children, Inc. is a national prevention program that helps parents, teachers and members of the community raise children to become responsible adults.
EPIC offers a comprehensive program that unites the home, school and community –the three most powerful influences in a child’s life. It is a most effective tool for supporting a child’s academic achievement and for the prevention of child abuse and neglect, school dropout, juvenile crime, substance abuse, and teenage pregnancy. Two key programs achieve these goals.
EPIC’s Parent Program offers training for facilitators from their own communities and prepares them to lead parenting workshops. Through small, supportive discussion groups, parents come together to discuss parenting concerns and to exchange ideas and parenting techniques. EPIC workshops are offered to parents of children from birth through adolescence with accompanying parenting manuals, which are available in both English and Spanish. These workshops help parents/guardians to strengthen their parenting skills for raising children in today’s complex society. The workshops also empower parents to become more involved in their child’s education. Other services to parents are available that assist them in being involved with their child’s academic life as well as the school environment.
EPIC’s Character Education Program trains teachers and support staff to infuse an innovative, grade-level appropriate, K-6 curriculum directly into their lesson plans. The curriculum, specifically tied to the new higher learning standards, promotes nine character traits which impact responsible behavior, effective decision-making and civility. Letters and activities sent home to parents as part of this curriculum, connect parents to this initiative. Further, character-based parenting workshops are included through EPIC’s parenting program, enabling the achievement of a true home/school partnership.
Parent Assistance Centers (Albany, Buffalo, Fallsburg, Niagara Falls, New York City, Yonkers) offer parenting skills assessment and training in the home, EPIC Parent Workshops, and general information on parenting and local resources in the community.
For information regarding EPIC Parenting Workshops call (716) 332-4100.
Updated, July 2005