Early Childhood
Literacy resources for kids ranging from Birth to 3 years old. Visit the links below to find the resources that match your needs.
Parents & Families
Resources for parents, new mothers, and caregivers.
The Bare Needs Diaper Bank distributes diapers, sanitary and adult incontinence products in Memphis and Shelby County while working to expand services across the Mid-South.
If you are in need of diapers, please contact:
- The Help Group at Christ Church, 5955 Yale Rd, Bartlett, 38134 901-377-3097
- Memphis for Christ, 1554 Bartlett Rd, Memphis, 38134 901-212-3349 (Hablan español)
- The Healing Center, 3885 Tchulahoma, Memphis, 38118 901-370-4673
Porter-Leath’s Books from Birth program provides early literacy resources to children from birth to age five. Books are provided to Shelby County families at no cost.
Address: 3400 Prescott Road
Memphis, TN 38118
Contact: 901.577.2500
FREE hearing evaluations and vision screenings to all SCS students, age 3 – 22. This includes Pre-K speech/language and developmental testing.
AVAILABLE SCREENING SERVICES:
- Audiological Therapy
- Diagnostic Testing
- Hearing Impaired
- Interpreting for Deaf Students
- OT/PT
- Special Education Preschool
- Speech Language Therapy
- Vision
Contact:
(901) 416-5206 | 4774 SEA ISLE RD.
Cornerstone is an early childhood home visitation program that provides pregnant mothers as well as families of children from birth to age 5 with all of the proper tools necessary for positive child development.
Services Provided
- Home visitation utilizing the PAT curriculum
- One-on-one time in Head Start or Early Head Start centers to help children increase their social, emotional and literacy skills
- EarnBenefits uses an online system to check benefit eligibility, such as food stamps, prepare and submit applications on the client’s behalf
- Welcome Baby! Delivers boxes to new mothers in maternity wards of area hospitals filled with infant health and development information
Address: 868 North Manassas St.
MEMPHIS, TN 38107
Contact: 901.577.2500
NEXT Memphis is a shared services childcare initiative housed at Porter-Leath that provides high-quality education and health services for children.
The network of standout centers will directly increase educational outcomes for children, family-level outcomes for parents, business viability, and overall childcare center quality. Participants are:
Gateway Learning Academy
Hooks-Dimmick Child Care
Hope House Day care
I Rise Christian Academy
KIDazzle-Flying Start Child Development Center
Lambs & Ivy School
Perea Preschool
Yale Road Learning Center
Calvary Place Child Care
Daffy Duck Learning Akademy
Contact: Chloe Moore, Director
901.577.2500
Address: 3400 Prescott Road
Memphis, TN 38118
Nurse-Family Partnership is an evidence-based home visitation program for first-time pregnant mothers. Specially trained nurses visit mothers in their homes throughout their first pregnancy and the first two years of their child’s life. The program aims to:
- Improve pregnancy outcomes by helping women engage in preventive health practices (including obtaining thorough prenatal care, improving diet and reducing use of cigarettes, alcohol and illegal substances)
- Improve child health and development
- Improve families’ economic self-sufficiency by helping parents develop a vision for their future
Address: 50 Peabody Pl, 4th Floor, Memphis, TN 38103
Contact: Angela Rainey
Email: Angela.Rainey@lebonheur.org
Our Nurturing Parenting program support parents in forming healthy, nurturing relationships and positive engagements and interactions with their children at any age in their child’s development. We provide classes for adult parents, as well as for adolescent parents.
The primary goal of the Family Center parenting support and education services is the prevention of child abuse/neglect and interpersonal violence by providing such support and education which enhances the parent/caregiver’s ability to:
- Promote children’s development,
- Improve child/parent attachment,
- Improve child/parent communication skills,
- Enhance self-esteem of participants,
- Improve child/parent social control, and
- To reduce aggressive behaviors by children and their caregivers.
Eligibility Requirements
Parents who believe they could benefit from parenting education to foster healthy commitment to the nurturing parenting lifestyle. They could be parents of very young children, (age 0 – 8 years old) or older children (up to age 18).
Address: Kindred Place-Nurturing Parenting Programs
2180 Union Ave. Memphis, TN 38104
Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday 8:30-4:30 and other times by appointment.
Contact: 901-276-2200
Email: info@kindred-place.org
Educating patients about the importance of not only reading to their babies and young children, but talking and singing to them as well. The includes pamphlets, videos and posters in patient rooms to share with parents how to effectively communicate with their babies, suggestions like, “Talk about what you’re doing,” “Comment on what they’re interested in,” and “Use pictures and gestures.”
Contact: Owen Phillips, MD
Phone: 901-515-3400
Address: 6215 Humphreys Blvd. Suite 201 Memphis, TN 38120
One by One Mentors provide quality personalized ministry for each family that educates, empowers and transforms the lives of parents. Mentors help families, especially the moms, with parenting tips and life skills; share the gospel; and connect families to church and community support networks.
Contact: Carol Brownlow
Email: admin@onebyoneusa.org
Phone: 901-857-1153
Address: 1355 Lynnfield Road, Suite 240 Memphis, TN, 38119
Parents as Teachers is an evidence-based curriculum that has two components focused on early childhood and follows a home visitation model. The first component focuses on having a healthy birth weight infant (≥5.5 pounds), which is the main factor in preventing infant mortality. The second component trains parents to be their child’s first teacher, stimulating the young mind and helping it to develop.
Contact: Gwen Price
Phone: 901-577-2500 ext. 1159
Email: gprice@porterleath.org
Address: 868 N. Manassas St.
Memphis, TN – 38107
During routine check-ups, pediatricians provide families with the knowledge and tools they need to make reading a part of their daily routine. Free books provided.
Contact: Wynett Jones/Jason Yaun, MD
Address: Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital
848 Adams Avenue
Memphis, TN 38103
Phone: 901-287-KIDS
Services Offered Online Literacy Resources Social-Emotional Learning Support
Ages: 4 – 8 years
Cost: Free
Contact Dr. Susan Elswick selswick@memphis.edu 901-484-3546
Address 235 McCord Hall Memphis, TN 38152
Community Members
Resources for community organizations, businesses, friends, neighbors, and leaders.
Child-friendly reading and play spaces (with free books) in laundromats.
Social Suds Resource Center 1048 South Bellevue Boulevard
Memphis, TN 38106
Contact: turnage@smaweb.org
Phone: 901.774.9582
Suds Laundry Address: 664 Waring Rd Memphis TN 38122
Email: SudsLaundryMemphis@gmail.com
Phone: 901-468-4108
A program designed to help prepare children from about the age of 2-1/2 years old to 5 for a successful Kindergarten experience. Asha’s Refuge preschool coordinators and volunteers work with each preschooler to guide and teach them preschool English vocabulary, social skills, age appropriate health, hygiene and life skills, and positive behavioral habits.
Address: 200 East Parkway North
3rd Floor
Memphis, TN. 38112
Contact Us
Phone – (901)500.9200
Email – serve@ashasrefuge.org
Service Providers
Service Providers provide organizations and clients with educational, medical, mental health resources, and many other services.
Specialists in speech-language pathology and behavior analysis work with your child for three hours, three days per week, in both group and individualized sessions. This unique co-treatment model blends the expertise of two professions that address the communication and behavior needs of children with autism.
The ABC Program is appropriate for children ages 3 to 5 with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism.
When: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Services: Child Care Professional Curriculum
Contacts:
JoClaire Merrill, MA, CCC-SLP
Anne Cornelius, BCBA
Memphis Speech and Hearing Center – 901.678.2009
LENA Grow is a professional development program for early childhood educators in family day homes or child care programs that uses regular feedback from LENA technology to improve the talk environment in the classroom. Educators meet with a coach one-on-one or in group sessions, weekly or every other week, with the flexibility to fit their schedules. The coaching sessions provide time to review the data on the interactive talk environment in each classroom and use the data to set goals to talk more.
Services: Child Care Professional Curriculum
Ages: 6 months-4 years
Contact: Ashley Foster, Coordinator
Email: mfoster3@memphis.edu
Address: 3720 Alumni Ave, Memphis, TN 38152
LENA Home is ideal for coaching and home visitation programs that would like to supplement their curriculum with objective feedback from LENA technology. Home visitors using LENA technology to measure language gain objective insights on home talk that can be used to inform and motivate parents and track progress toward increasing quality interactions. Productivity is increased through clear reports that provide insights on how much adults spoke to their child, back and forth exchanges between parents and child, and TV and electronic sound throughout the day. The feedback is designed to show progress over time. You can also receive scheduling and text reminders that simplify logistics and ease the burden on home visitors, implementation support, one year of technical assistance, and two validated measures of child language behavior. LENA Home is best suited for families with a young child that has an IFSP or suspected disability.
Services: Parenting Curriculum
Ages: 6 months-4 years
Contact: Alexzander Price, Coordinator
Email: asprice1@memphis.edu
Address: 3720 Alumni Ave, Memphis, TN 38152
LENA Start is a program for parents that uses regular feedback from LENA’s “talk pedometer” technology to help increase interactive talk to close the early talk gap, improve school readiness, and build stronger families. Over the course of 10 weekly sessions, parents and caregivers learn about the importance of interactive talk along with ways to incorporate more conversation into their daily routines. The program combines the use of LENA technology to measure the home language environment with parent group meetings that teach simple techniques to improve the quantity and quality of adult-child talk.
Services: Parenting Curriculum
Ages: 6 months-4 years
Contact: Pha’Meshia Calico, Coordinator
Email: plcalico@memphis.edu
Address: 3720 Alumni Ave, Memphis, TN 38152
SRVS Kids provides family-centered programs and services that address the unique abilities and challenges of young children from birth to 14 years of age.
SRVS Kids includes four main components:
Early On – Community Based Developmental Therapy
Early Intervention
Play, Do, Learn Inclusive Preschool
Pediatric Therapies (Speech-Language, Occupational, Physical, Feeding and Behavior)
Address: 3971 Knight Arnold Rd.
Memphis TN 38118
Contact: (901) 869-7787