Rasco From RIF

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Spanish Education Development Center in DC

October 30th, 2009

From its 1966 founding in the public schools in DC, RIF has expanded to other types of programs in the District of Columbia. One very special expansion was the Spanish Education Development Center (SED). 1980 marked the beginning of our long-standing partnership with the SED which has been under the leadership of Martha Egas as the Executive Director over the 29 years of our partnership.

Recently I had the privilege to visit with Martha at the SED Center’s new location on 3100 Kansas Avenue NW which was once a Hahn Shoe Warehouse. In March 2009 the nonprofit relocated from its two smaller Adam Morgan sites to this 24,00 square foot Petworth address. This colorful, state of the art facility may be brand new, but the core values of the center have remained the same.

The SED Center, which purports to be the first bilingual, multicultural preschool in DC, opened in 1971 with the primary goal of offering quality childcare and empowering Spanish speaking and other immigrant communities by responding to their educational needs through various services and initiatives.  In 1978 Martha Egas came to the SED  family, and two years later she was asked to coordinate and launch their RIF program.

After our tour of the facility, Martha pored over several gigantic binders showing me the history of the SED Center in pictures. Each photograph serves as a testament to the creativity and commitment of the staff, volunteers, and families that have helped SED grow and thrive. At the Center, RIF distributions were and are never mere opportunities for children to receive books. Held around Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter, the distributions double as holiday celebrations where the children’s favorite stories come to life through plays, puppetry and other exciting activities. Lulu Delacre who penned “Arroz con Leche” is among the many children’s book authors and illustrators who have participated in the distributions.

From 1987 to 1990 and in partnership with RIF and a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the SED Center sent the love of reading into homes with the Storytelling Family Club which allowed families to host reading sessions in their own apartments and other neighborhood settings. A multi-generational, bilingual program, the Club let parents and other adult family members become storytellers for the evening. This worked well as even those adults who were not proficient readers were able to be valuable contributors to the events. To support this endeavor, professional storytellers were occasionally employed to coach and model storytelling methods.

Martha says it is very rewarding to regularly have her former preschool students, who are now parents themselves, return to read and volunteer at distributions because they remember their own experiences with RIF and want to give back. Martha reflected in closing “the main thing is to provide children with opportunities. The love for books begins here. We get that from educating parents about the importance of reading and education.”

Thank you, Martha, for all your great work with these young children and their families!
Nia McLean
Programs Unit 1

A highlight of SED Center's RIF program one year was a special visit with other RIF programs at The White House hosted by First Lady Barbara Bush.

Be sure to visit RIF’s BIRTHDAY MEMORY BOOK and tell us before November 3 about your favorite RIF memory!

Filed under: FLASHBACK FRIDAYS, RIF 43rd Birthday, RIF Programs

Tags: Spanish Education Development Center