BRYCS’ audiences may be particularly interested in three of PACER’s early childhood brochures: Getting Off to a Good Start: Positive Interactions with Diverse Families in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education, Strategies for Success in Local Early Childhood Parent Outreach Activities Among Diverse Cultures, and Potential Community Partners and Locations for Parent Outreach Activities in Diverse Communities. These three brochures suggest a variety of methods to create local early childhood outreach programs using community leaders to contact the families with disabled young children in need of these services. Theses strategies created by the PACER Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which focuses on “parents helping parents” to improve the lives of disabled children, encourage community exposure to spread information. Examples include displaying brochures in prominent shopping locations and participating in community celebrations. Optimal success occurs when young families, currently using the services, recruit community leaders to actively participate in displaying information and helping to refer families to appropriate social service agencies. Staff involved in the outreach program need to be positive and proactive as well as able to communicate in the native language and to function within the culture.
