The Youth Summer Digital Book Club starts next week. We will be encouraging youth to read 20 minutes a day with fun activities. Our staff Tricia and Kaylyn will both be meeting weekly with two groups of youth once a week for 6 weeks.Staff dropped off the kits of supplies to the programs for each youth enrolled today. Each kit has all of the supplies they need for the activities planned, and at least 5 books from the Pernet library (catered to their reading levels and interests from registration), a reading tracker, and other important information. We will be swapping out the books during the program as the youth finish them, using the same Covid-19 measures currently used by Public Libraries.
This is made possible partially by grants from The Fred Harris Daniels Foundation and Reliant Foundation and Carolyn M. from the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts (GSCWM) who donated 10 boxes of books earlier this year for her Gold Award Girl Scouts Project.
#ThankYou #YouMadeThisHappen

Thanks to MCPHS University, Pernet was able to conduct a survey in March 2020 of its Parent Aide Program to get a deeper understanding of our clients, their needs, and the alignment with our services.  Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing excerpts and information that we gained in the survey process.  The survey included a good cross-section of clients, including some who were newly accessing services, along with others who had been accessing services for a longer period of time.  The respondents were also from diverse backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, culturally and racially diverse, and were from across different generations and age groups.

We welcome your comments and questions, as they are truly informative and helpful in our program evaluation and ensuring that we're providing the most relevant services to meet our clients' unique needs. 

Below is some of the information we received from survey participants:
1. Almost 3/4 (72%) of survey participants were extremely satisfied with the services they receive from Pernet, with another 22% of respondents indicating that they were very satisfied.
2.  Over half (53%) of survey participants felt that Pernet had done an extremely good job in satisfying their family's needs, with an additional 26% reporting that Pernet had done a very good job.  Sixteen (16%) said their family's needs were adequately satisfied, and the remaining 5% felt that their needs were still unmet.
3.  When asked how Pernet has helped them in the past year, respondents indicated a range of ways in which they have been helped including: learned how to discipline their kids; see their children more; allowed them to utilize the office space for supervised visits; supported their family needs; brought their family back in a more unified way; good advice; helped to plan a schedule; reached family goals; and helped to pick out nutritious foods.
4. Clients also reported that they felt connected to Pernet's staff: 69% reported that they felt "very" or "extremely" connected, with another 23% reporting that they felt adequately or somewhat connected.
5. Similarly, clients reported that they felt like Pernet's staff was trustworthy: 95% of respondents said that staff was extremely, very, or adequately trustworthy, with the largest number of respondents indicating that they felt staff was "extremely" trustworthy.
6. When asked to describe staff, clients said: "always a text away" and quick to respond to needs, good advice, helpful, understanding, good communication, help with communicating with other agencies and services, supportive, good advice, friendly, informative, validating, resourceful, kind, loyal, compassionate, convenient, helpful.

We look forward to sharing more information from this wonderful survey conducted by MCHPS University students.  Thank you again for helping us better understand and better serve our community!