Situated in one of Harlem’s oldest community centers, the Children’s Aid Milbank Health Center is no stranger to the idea of wraparound care. The Dunlevy Milbank Community Center has provided medical, dental, and mental health services as well as after-school programs, youth sports, education programs, and more to the neighborhood for generations.
This focus on overall health and wellness made United Hospital Fund’s early childhood literacy project, “Pediatric Steps to Literacy, One Book at a Time,” seem like a perfect fit for the center, Children’s Aid Community Engagement Manager Joel Colon said.
Milbank was already giving out books to its young patients, but the UHF initiative provided guidance, resource connections, additional book donation s, and $7,500 in funding that enabled the organization to take its literacy help far beyond the page.
“It made us think of opening our scope,” Mr. Colon said. “When a family comes in, we’re thinking about how we holistically serve this family. Literacy being tied to overall health and wellness and long-term outcomes—it is extremely valuable to our clients, especially within our underserved communities.”
Milbank took the first step toward this goal by using the UHF resources to transform its waiting room into a literacy-rich environment. Set up with two couches, a child-sized table, literacy posters, and a bookshelf stocked with diverse stories and both English- and Spanish-language books, the waiting area is now a place for parents to spend quality time with their children rather than just idly wait for their appointment, Mr. Colon said. The response has been promising.
“You can see the level of excitement from parents that we’re making the effort to connect with families and make a literacy-friendly space,” he said.
The UHF literacy project has also helped continue that quality time outside the walls of the health center.
Through the literacy project, Milbank Health Center is giving out literacy kits to patients 5 years old and younger. Each kit includes two books, two activity books, a create your own story activity, a Lego set for motor skill development, crayons, and New York Public Library (NYPL) access information. So far, the center has given out nearly 100 literacy kits and plans to continue putting them together with materials provided by the NYPL.
Spurred by the UHF literacy project, the NYPL partnership has helped Milbank patients reach other forms of literacy help, too.
The library has started holding library card sign-up events at Milbank every month or so. Plus, Milbank has helped patients take advantage of library story times, tutoring services, and even adult English language classes.
“You start to realize that parents need some of these things too,” Mr. Colon said, noting that staff noticed some parents struggling with registration or reading exam results. “It’s a growing opportunity for the child and the parent.”
The literacy project has been so successful at the Harlem health center that Children’s Aid has decided to expand it to its Bronx location. The organization plans to set up a similar literacy-rich waiting room in the Bronx and hand out literacy kits to families at that practice soon.
The literacy initiative fits well with Children’s Aid’s overall goals as an organization, Mr. Colon said.
“As an anti-poverty organization, Children’s Aid knows that poverty cannot be overcome with one service or program. That’s why this initiative is so powerful,” he said. “In addition to comprehensive health services, our kids and families are connected to a whole host of supports to help them thrive. Integrating these services removes barriers and allows us to serve the whole family.”
The Children's Aid Milbank Health Center was one of five participants in the second year of UHF’s early childhood literacy project in 2023. The initiative is funded by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation with additional support from Howard P. Milstein. Now in its third year, the project aims to ensure that children in at-risk communities develop proficient literacy skills and become lifelong learners poised for success.