Happy kids and families had their TV-debuts on December 28 when the film crew from KTVU-Channel 5 showed up at Habitot to film the holiday party. Channel 5 viewers saw almost 90 children with special needs and their families, from all over the Bay Area from as far away as Santa Rosa, enjoying the Museum. This free admission celebration, which we hope to repeat, was generously sponsored by Wells Fargo.


To see the video and photo gallery, click links below.

Video:
http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/kids-being-kids-habitot-museum-hosts-holiday/vFc6p/

Photo Gallery:
http://www.ktvu.com/gallery/entertainment/kids-being-kids-habitot-museum-hosts-holiday-celeb/gJ8N/#976656

Trio Foundation has granted $10,000 to support “Family Reengagement for Released Prisoners,” (FRRP) a project to provide joyful, reintegration art and play-sessions at Habitot for recently incarcerated mothers and their preschool-aged children. The children of incarcerated parents have long been an almost “invisible population,” according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Nearly one quarter of prisoners nationwide have children under the age of four.

For this project, Habitot will partner with Centerforce, a prisoners’ support organization providing services to women recently released from Santa Rita Jail. All of the 80 women who will participate are motivated to regain custody of their children.

As of December 31, 45 gifts from individuals and a $5,000 from the Witkin Family Fund have raised just over $20,000 for our free, after-hours programs for teen parents, homeless families, children with special needs and formerly incarcerated parents.

Habitot's intimate play and family togetherness setting and mentoring programs nurture families and foster family well-being for some of the neediest families.

Thank you to all who donated. It's not too late to make a gift to Habitot - every bit helps to keep the Family Engagement Program and all of Habitot's programs going.

Over the holidays, Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen customers donated $150 worth of parenting and children's books to support Habitot's Family Resource Center and Book-Giveaway programs. Customers donating books received a free order of beignets! Habitot volunteer Amir Magid is busily entering the new books into our Library which will be available to members for checkout, and everyone else for browsing while in the museum.

Thank you to all who donated. To see the wish list of books we'd still like to replace or add to our collection, click here.