The HIPPY program, funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, is an in-home program which assists newcomer parents of preschool-age children with preparing their children for entering kindergarten. Through early intervention, the program helps immigrant families with their settlement needs; ensures enhanced success for children headed to kindergarten; and enables parents to play a key role in this learning and settlement process. Home visitors are employed to work with families in their homes. The home visitors bring a new set of instructional materials weekly, and using role-play, they spend one hour per week with the parent(s) reviewing the materials which the parents then deliver to their child in 15-minute daily sessions. Newcomer families make a two-year commitment to participate 30 weeks per year, with the program which- runs concurrently with the school year. We work with 185 families and 210 children in Toronto.

HIPPY, which stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, is an internationally recognized trademarked program brought to Canada in 2001 and operates in over 7 cities. For more information go to www.hippycanada.ca

Working Women Community Centre runs HIPPY  throughout Toronto in collaboration with several neighbourhood partners. We work in the following neighbourhoods: Bloor West, Malvern, Flemingdon, Thorncliffe, Victoria Village and Jane/Finch.

Our community partners are: Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, Malvern Family Resource Centre – Rouge River Early Years Center, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, and Flemingdon Neighbourhood Services.

Download the latest HIPPY Toronto newsletter