STUDIO CITY, Calif., July 13, 1999 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dr. Kerby T. Alvy, the founder and executive director of the 25-year-old Center for the Improvement of Child Caring, will be honored in Washington, D.C. for being a historic leader in the field of parenting and parenting education. The honor is being bestowed by the Parenting Coalition International and U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention as part of this year's National Parent's Day celebration. The awards ceremony will take place at the Senate Office Building on July 26, 1999.
Dr. Alvy's leadership is reflected in his having been the creative force behind the development and national dissemination of parenting skill-building programs that have helped hundreds of thousands of parents to raise children more effectively and more humanely. These programs provide parents with a series of how-to-do-it child rearing skills, like effective praise, confrontation and problem solving skills, which they employ to bring peace and harmony to family life and to promote healthy child development. The programs are being used in community projects nationwide to prevent child abuse, drug abuse, school failure, delinquency, gangs and crime.
Among the programs that he has spearheaded are the nation's first to recognize and respect the unique child rearing challenges of parents from cultural groups that have historically been discriminated against in American society. The "Effective Black Parenting Program" for African American parents and the "Los Ninos Bien Educados Program" for Latino Americans teach parenting skills in culturally-specific ways and they address child rearing issues that are particularly important to each group.
The sixty-year-old psychologist has been a pioneer in the creation of a national model for preparing educators, social workers, psychologists and counselors to deliver parenting program through the schools, agencies, hospitals and religious institutions where they work. Over 5,000 instructors in 44 states have been trained thus far.
Dr. Alvy is a prolific author who has written guidebooks for parents, like "The Power of Positive Parenting" that offers research-based definitions and examples of effective parenting against which individuals can evaluate their own parenting, and books for professionals, like "Parent Training Today: A Social Necessity", and "Black Parenting: Strategies for Training."
He has also designed and implemented a variety of community service projects and regional campaigns, including the Center's current Effective Parenting Campaigns in such counties as Los Angeles and San Diego. These public education and community mobilization efforts raise awareness about the essentials of effective contemporary parenting, and they stimulate school districts and government departments to provide a broader range of programs and opportunities for parents.
Dr. Alvy received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his doctorate in clinical child psychology from the State University of New York at Albany. He lives with his wife Mary, a special education teacher, and his teenage daughters, Lisa and Brittany, in Sherman Oaks, California.
Additional information about Dr. Alvy and parenting programs can be obtained through the Center's toll free number (800) 325-2422 and its Web site (www.ciccparenting.org).