Porter-Leath Programs

Porter-Leath Celebrates Service Milestones for 2019!

Each year, Porter-Leath honors those who have completed service milestones with the agency. In addition to dinner with their leader, each honoree received a framed certificate and a thank you gift of their choosing. Please join us as we recognize these wonderful staff who help us empower children and families to achieve a healthy, optimal and independent lifestyle each day! Five Years Tameca McPherson, Rhonda Watson, Cylinda Young, Desmond Catron, Jennifer Dunn, Kirby Scott, Tracy... Read More

Porter-Leath Teams with the United Way of the Mid-South to Drive the Dream

Living in poverty can feel like you are facing an eight-headed dragon. Just one problem can sink you into a hole of despair. Your car breaks down, so you can’t get to work, you can’t work which means you can’t pay for food, shelter or childcare. Your child gets sick and you have no one to take care of them and you have to take off from work. Your job has downsized and you lose your job while already living paycheck to paycheck on an income that barely covers your... Read More

Preschool

Foster Grandparents: Leaving a Legacy of Learning and Loving

“Look who is here! Grandma’s here!” This greeting is how Mary Jones aka “Grandma Mary” greeted the twenty children who eagerly awaited her arrival to their classroom at KIPP Henry Collegiate Elementary. Not surprisingly, Grandma Mary was a popular figure at KIPP Henry where she volunteered for the past five years and was a strong recruiter of other Foster Grandparents. After retiring from Porter-Leath as an employee, Ms. Jones decided she wanted to spend time in... Read More

Generations

Connecting with Compassion

As Regional Case Consultant, LaRhomica works hard to find foster homes and forever homes for children for whom the state has full guardianship. Her professional experience and grit guides her ability to place children safe and protective environments, but it is LaRhomica’s personal connection with foster care that helps her understanding of and rapport with the children teens she serves. LaRhomica bounced around to foster homes and relatives most of her life, and at one point in her... Read More

Connections

LENA Grow: Helping Teachers Increase Conversations in the Classroom

Porter-Leath is committed to ensuring that our teachers and childcare provider partners are best-equipped to educate our children and prepare them for kindergarten. In early March, Porter-Leath launched LENA Grow , a 10-week professional development program that aims to maximize conversational turns between teacher and child. Like LENA Start, children who have received parental consent in LENA Grow wear a vest with a recording device. Instead of tracking conversational turns at home, LENA... Read More