TOTAL LEARNING INITIATIVE

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About Us

• 45 years of anti-poverty services to the Greater Bridgeport area.
• Provider of early childhood educational programs.
• Provider of Energy Assistance, Weatherization, Employment Training, Youth programs.
• Serves more than 35,000 individuals each year.
• Employs over 700 persons.
• Well known throughout the State of Connecticut in public and private arenas.

• Michael Cohen Group LLC, an international research and consulting firm - headquartered in New York City - that specializes in children, youth, and adolescents along with their families and their teachers, and in scientific evaluation of educational initiatives.
• MCG professionals represent social science disciplines, such as education, psychology, and sociology.
• MCG's clients include the U.S. Department of Education, College Board, Scholastic, Weekly Reader, Sesame Workshop and National Geographic, as well as the Bridgeport Total Learning Initiative.

Infant/Toddler Classes

• Weekly parent child music and movement classes.
• Developmentally appropriate, research based curriculum, using best practices.
• Parent and child education.
• CDs and songbooks for use at home.
• Enhances parent child interactions and builds community.
• Fosters Social/Emotional, development, fine and gross motor skills, speech, language, and cognitive development.

Preschool Classes

• Embedded, year long PD, continued support for PreK teachers.
• Music Learning supports all learning: Music and and movement activities woven throughout classroom day, supporting CT Framework Standards and all curriculum.
• Classroom Management.
• Children "bring the music home" for parent/child musical play, sharing songs and activities learned in school.
• Parent /Family involvement: Children, parents, siblings, teachers, and staff make music together at school wide or classroom events.

• Embedded, Year-long PD, continued support.
• Classroom Management.
• 20 Multi-modal, Multi-sensory Strategies.
• Directly delivers the Curriculum.
• Research-based, Arts-infused best practices.
• Patterns the Brain for Learning.
• Differentiated Instruction for whole groups and in "studios".
• Highly skilled trainers weave into the school fabric.
• Sustainability through a leadership cadre.
• Collaboration with mental health, family workers, after school and the school leadership teams in Bridgeport model.

• Mental health consultation within the schools by Master's level clinicians
• Observations within the classroom
• Collaboration with teachers to understand the meaning of difficult behaviors.
• Coaching to help teachers develop strategies.
• Home-based psychotherapeutic intervention for children and families with greater challenges.
• Strong research-based outcomes.

ABCD, Inc. 1070 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604 Phone: (203) 366-8241 Fax: (203) 394-6175
Charles Tisdale, Executive Director

Action for Bridgeport Community Development Inc. (ABCD), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit agency was designed as the anti-poverty agency for the Greater Bridgeport Area in September of 1964 by the Office of Economic Opportunity. The agency aims to work with people toward the eradication of the "paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in this nation." ABCD presently servers over 35,000 individuals annually through its broad range of services in a six-town area, covering Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull, Connecticut.

ABCD is distinguished from other corporations in two important ways. First, ABCD's sole mandate is to assist the poor. Second, ABCD concentrates its efforts and resources on identifying and eliminating the causes of poverty rather than only dealing with its effects. ABCD's efforts are directed towards promoting appropriate institutional change and enabling the poor to become self-sufficient.