By Martin Ricard

ALL PARENTS WANT the best for their children. And Vernita Joyner, a single, working mother of three and Bayview-Hunters Point resident, started attending classes with her kids at Even Start, a neighborhood family literacy program, to provide just that.

As a program participant, her youngest daughter, Kiara, who will start school in two years, built up her reading skills. And in addition to getting learning assistance for her child, Joyner obtained an associate arts degree from San Francisco City College. She's now working to become a teacher.

Joyner's family is just 1 of 17 to benefit from the two-year-old Even Start's "total life skills" package. The no-cost Even Start program, sponsored by the San Francisco Board of Education, focuses on families with children under the age of seven and parents who lack formal education and brings literacy and positive communication into the home. The skills Joyner has learned have made her a better parent, and the program has changed her life.

One family at a time, Even Start breaks the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by helping to prepare kids for school, sending parents back to school, offering parent-training classes, and facilitating parent-child interaction.

"We try to make all the components integrated and work toward building families," program director Karen Polk says.

Even Start is one of the few English-only family literacy programs in the nation. In Bayview-Hunters Point, many African American children begin their education with substandard reading and vocabulary skills, according to Polk. "We are exposing their child to books and an expanded vocabulary to get them more ready for school," she says. Each participating family receives a 100-book library to bring the habit of reading into the home. "Many of these kids don't have books at home. We're hoping [Even Start] will build parents as well as the kids."

Polk says that raising the educational level of the parents helps motivate children to pursue job training and further their own schooling when they become adults. By partnering with City College, which offers GED classes, and other community-based organizations, including First 5 and child care facility Frandelja Enrichment Center, Even Start allows parents to find a better job and set a solid example for the next generation.

Recently the adult education class has been working on writing, revamping résumés, drafting business proposals, and job searching. Even Start instructors coach parents to draw pictures and write stories with their children, enabling both parent and child to learn from one another.

"A lot of people are afraid because they hear about a parenting class and feel that they don't need to be told how to raise their kids," Joyner said. "But it's really just about coming with your kids and interacting with them."

Along with weekly classes and monthly field trips, the program also provides home visits that assist parents in working with their children.

Many of the participating parents are going back to school, finding better jobs, and communicating more effectively. And parents like Joyner have said the program has helped their children teach one another to learn. The result is that the entire family becomes empowered.

In Bayview-Hunters Point, which has a 30 percent unemployment rate, high crime rate, and under-resourced schools, Even Start wants to be a community liaison between low-income families and the school system. In a district where social disadvantages have curtailed academic achievement, the program has stood as a beacon for families by leveling the playing field.

"We can't run from our people," Polk says. "We have to make change for ourselves. We need to start building back our community."