OUR HISTORY
Incorporated in December, 2003, our board began in earnest in early 2004 building relationships with other agencies and stakeholders within San Bernardino County, and reaching out to funders and contributors for financial support. That year we “became airborne” when we began successfully securing grants to launch three planned programs: WIA Title I - Youth Employment, Family Wellness and Education (HIPPY), and After-School Academic Push (ASAP).
From our inception, HDNB has always been keenly interested in childhood and youth development. Between 2004 and 2009, we seized the opportunity to partner and contract with the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department to provide a Workforce Investment Act, Title I - Youth Employment Program for youths ages 14 – 21. The program provided an impetus for referred Barstow area students at risk for dropping out to complete high school, and offered participants the opportunity to learn job-entry skills including job search and interviewing techniques, resume writing, and provided paid and unpaid part-time employment by private merchants, banks, and public (city and county) agencies in the Barstow area. Upon high school graduation these participants, many of whom were formerly without specific career plans or life goals, capitalized on the momentum gained through this experience by continuing their education at area community colleges, enlistment in the armed forces, enrolling in vocational programs and pursuing entry-level jobs.
In Fall 2004, we began our Family Wellness and Education Program which introduced San Bernardino County to Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), an evidence-based family support model. Originating in Israel in 1969 and internationally acclaimed, HIPPY uses certified home visitors to deliver a standardized 30-week curriculum to participating families. The program empowers parents and caregivers of preschool children to be their child’s first and most important teacher. Between 2004 and 2013, HDNB contracted with the First 5 San Bernardino Children and Families Commission, and the San Bernardino County Preschool Services Department to serve over 400 families in the cities of Barstow and Victorville, California and their surrounding communities, by helping parents and caregivers prepare their 3, 4 and 5-year-olds to enter kindergarten or first grade socially well-adjusted and truly ready to learn on their first day of school.
When HDNB learned that many Barstow area students (particularly in grades 9-12) needed additional academic help outside the classroom, our board convened to identify how we could become involved. Upon obtaining Community Development Block Grant funding through the County of San Bernardino Department of Community Development and Housing, and grants from The Community Foundation Serving Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, HDNB initiated an After-School Academic Push program in Fall 2006, in partnership with the Barstow Unified School District. At the center of the ASAP program was a locally retired classroom teacher and high school principal who still shared our passion for working with young students, especially those desperately needing personalized one-on-one attention to clarify and reinforce knowledge and concepts taught in their classes but not grasped at first exposure. While that dedicated retiree has since left the program due to health considerations, we have continued to offer tutorial assistance to local K-12 students through the ASAP program to date.
During 2005, the Director of HDNB learned that non-high school graduates in and around the City of Barstow desiring to obtain a General Educational Development (GED) credential, were forced to travel to distant locales where GED testing was being offered. The nearest testing site was Hesperia Adult School, approximately 40 miles to the south. Seeing this as an unacceptable obstacle for persons without available transportation, our director obtained the approval of our Board of Directors, and formal authorization from the California State Department of Education for HDNB to serve as a satellite test center to Hesperia Adult School. On her own initiative and without compensation, she coordinated the logistics and scheduling required to transport test materials between Hesperia and Barstow, and to administer tests in English and Spanish at our business location at Central Continuation High School in Barstow. This service ended in 2011, when the California Department of Education announced it would be eliminating the use of printed tests and was transitioning to electronic testing on-line through the commercial contracted services of Pearson Vue Test Centers®.
High Desert New Beginnings, Inc. has literally been a life-changing presence for countless individuals and families in the high desert region of San Bernardino County. We look forward to the future with even brighter expectations and for new opportunities to serve in cooperation with our community partners.
Looking Ahead
Today HDNB recognizes the ever- increasing demand for GED testing services in the Barstow area among the target population of residents who have not obtained a high school diploma and have aspirations to qualify for entry-level employment, advance in their current employment, or to continue their formal education beyond high school. We remain poised to stay actively involved in serving our communities, and are pleased to announce that in the Summer of 2016, High Desert New Beginnings was cleared by the State of California and the U.S. Dept. of Education in Washington, D.C. to become a test site in conjunction with Pearson Vue Test Centers® for the administration of the on-line General Educational Development (GED) exam in the City of Barstow. Go to this site’s Services page for updated information on taking this and other examinations at our test center.
From our inception, HDNB has always been keenly interested in childhood and youth development. Between 2004 and 2009, we seized the opportunity to partner and contract with the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department to provide a Workforce Investment Act, Title I - Youth Employment Program for youths ages 14 – 21. The program provided an impetus for referred Barstow area students at risk for dropping out to complete high school, and offered participants the opportunity to learn job-entry skills including job search and interviewing techniques, resume writing, and provided paid and unpaid part-time employment by private merchants, banks, and public (city and county) agencies in the Barstow area. Upon high school graduation these participants, many of whom were formerly without specific career plans or life goals, capitalized on the momentum gained through this experience by continuing their education at area community colleges, enlistment in the armed forces, enrolling in vocational programs and pursuing entry-level jobs.
In Fall 2004, we began our Family Wellness and Education Program which introduced San Bernardino County to Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), an evidence-based family support model. Originating in Israel in 1969 and internationally acclaimed, HIPPY uses certified home visitors to deliver a standardized 30-week curriculum to participating families. The program empowers parents and caregivers of preschool children to be their child’s first and most important teacher. Between 2004 and 2013, HDNB contracted with the First 5 San Bernardino Children and Families Commission, and the San Bernardino County Preschool Services Department to serve over 400 families in the cities of Barstow and Victorville, California and their surrounding communities, by helping parents and caregivers prepare their 3, 4 and 5-year-olds to enter kindergarten or first grade socially well-adjusted and truly ready to learn on their first day of school.
When HDNB learned that many Barstow area students (particularly in grades 9-12) needed additional academic help outside the classroom, our board convened to identify how we could become involved. Upon obtaining Community Development Block Grant funding through the County of San Bernardino Department of Community Development and Housing, and grants from The Community Foundation Serving Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, HDNB initiated an After-School Academic Push program in Fall 2006, in partnership with the Barstow Unified School District. At the center of the ASAP program was a locally retired classroom teacher and high school principal who still shared our passion for working with young students, especially those desperately needing personalized one-on-one attention to clarify and reinforce knowledge and concepts taught in their classes but not grasped at first exposure. While that dedicated retiree has since left the program due to health considerations, we have continued to offer tutorial assistance to local K-12 students through the ASAP program to date.
During 2005, the Director of HDNB learned that non-high school graduates in and around the City of Barstow desiring to obtain a General Educational Development (GED) credential, were forced to travel to distant locales where GED testing was being offered. The nearest testing site was Hesperia Adult School, approximately 40 miles to the south. Seeing this as an unacceptable obstacle for persons without available transportation, our director obtained the approval of our Board of Directors, and formal authorization from the California State Department of Education for HDNB to serve as a satellite test center to Hesperia Adult School. On her own initiative and without compensation, she coordinated the logistics and scheduling required to transport test materials between Hesperia and Barstow, and to administer tests in English and Spanish at our business location at Central Continuation High School in Barstow. This service ended in 2011, when the California Department of Education announced it would be eliminating the use of printed tests and was transitioning to electronic testing on-line through the commercial contracted services of Pearson Vue Test Centers®.
High Desert New Beginnings, Inc. has literally been a life-changing presence for countless individuals and families in the high desert region of San Bernardino County. We look forward to the future with even brighter expectations and for new opportunities to serve in cooperation with our community partners.
Looking Ahead
Today HDNB recognizes the ever- increasing demand for GED testing services in the Barstow area among the target population of residents who have not obtained a high school diploma and have aspirations to qualify for entry-level employment, advance in their current employment, or to continue their formal education beyond high school. We remain poised to stay actively involved in serving our communities, and are pleased to announce that in the Summer of 2016, High Desert New Beginnings was cleared by the State of California and the U.S. Dept. of Education in Washington, D.C. to become a test site in conjunction with Pearson Vue Test Centers® for the administration of the on-line General Educational Development (GED) exam in the City of Barstow. Go to this site’s Services page for updated information on taking this and other examinations at our test center.