Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY)

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a program of COA Youth and Family Centers, is a parent involvement, school-readiness program that helps parents prepare their two-, three-, and four-year old children for success in school and beyond. Peer mentors provide parents with a set of carefully developed curriculum including books and materials designed to strengthen their children’s cognitive skills, early literacy skills, and social/emotional and physical development.HIPPY empowers parents as primary educators of their children in the home and fosters parent involvement in school and community life. Parents and children read, play, and learn together every day in their homes and at monthly HIPPY Family Gathering Nights. NCJW-MKE wants to provide each HIPPY child with books and access to activities encouraging parent involvement. See volunteer dates below for ways to volunteer at family gathering nights!

Be a Volunteer for Family Gathering Nights

At monthly Family Gathering Nights, NCJW volunteers help children ages 2-5 (and their parents and siblings) with art and science projects, games, and other activities, serve dinner, read to children, etc. It is truly a fun and rewarding volunteer opportunity every second Monday from 5-7pm during the school year, at COA’s Riverwest Center, 909 E Garfield Avenue.

Family Gathering Nights in 2025 are on these Mondays: January 13, February 10, March 10, April 14, 2025. The last Family Gathering Night will be on Monday, May 5, and it is an Outdoor Carnival to celebrate the end of the year — Lots of fun!!

Graduation will follow on Saturday, May 17. More info on the Graduation Celebration to come!

For information and to RSVP contact Margie Margolies (margie@margolies.com)

NCJW Volunteers also help with planning, program evaluation, publicity, fundraising, field trips, graduation, staff appreciation dinners, anniversary celebrations, winter wear and book drives, and other aspects of HIPPY. To support our annual book drive or the HIPPY Family Day Field Trips, click one of the links above.

HIPPY In The News

A Neighborhood News Service article about HIPPY includes the following YouTube video they produced from interviewing a family at a Family Gathering Night. Click here to watch the video.