Kids don’t come with instruction manuals, but Birth to Three is providing the next best thing to parents.
And after several years of diligent planning and research by the staff, Birth to Three has been rewarded for its efforts, receiving several grants to expand their current child development curriculum.
“We wanted to be supported by Oregon foundations,” Birth to Three’s executive director Minalee Saks said. “Each foundation came through at the level that was requested, which is very rare.”
The grants were awarded by local state organizations, including the Ford Family Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust. The awards, in the form of $520,000 in grants, will allow Birth to Three to implement a new program in child-development curriculum.
Before submitting grant proposals, Birth to Three spent two years planning the new program, which concentrates on the development of children from birth to 3 years of age. The program is called “First 3 Years.” The organization recruited the help of University professor Mary Rothbart, who has been instrumental with the organization since its creation, for the grant writing.
Research concluded that there were no similar programs in existence, and a working model, which was funded by a seed grant from the Oregon Community Foundation, was developed to submit for the grant proposals.

“I was so happy … this is really going to be a tremendous opportunity not only for parents in this community but beyond,” Rothbart said.
The core program is split into three sections: “Incredible Infants,” “Wonderful Ones” and “Terrific Twos.” Besides focusing on the child’s development, the program stresses the importance of the role of the parental relationship as well as interaction with other families.
Through training videos, instruction manuals and group meetings, the program will be implemented nationwide, and it is all made possible with the finances provided by the grants.
Birth to Three has served as a working model for the “First 3 Years” curriculum and involves families throughout Lane County.
Tina McClellan, mother of Charity, 5 1/2 months, and Collin, 22 months, has been involved with the program since Collin was a newborn, and continued helping when Charity was born. McClellan and her husband still meet once a month with the original group of parents and children they joined when Collin was an infant.
“We intend on continuing our group until people break it up, which hopefully never happens,” McClellan said.
As she watched her children playing with other children who are part of the Birth to Three program, McClellan said, “I come here to play, too. Why stay home and do dishes?”
Birth to Three, a private, non-profit organization, was founded in 1978 by three mothers. The idea for the organization was kindled by a research project on parental isolation by Rothbart, a professor of psychology and a member of the University’s Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences. Part of Rothbart’s project included an in-home study of parents with young children.
The two research assistants involved in the project, along with one of the mothers involved in the study, Minalee Saks, the current director, believed that parents would greatly benefit from child-raising education and interaction with other families.
After a year of research and planning, funded by a federal child abuse prevention grant from the Children’s Bureau of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Birth to Three was launched.
More than 20 years later, the program is a nationally recognized organization, and a model for its curriculum “Making Parenting a Pleasure.” The curriculum is distributed at more than 300 sites nationwide, including elementary schools, YMCAs and homeless shelters.