Tarry,
I have been directly involved with both Children First! and Invest Early since
their births and could fill up many screens of information, but I will try and
be brief.
Children First! is a grass roots initiative that began in November 1998 and was
devoted to making people more aware of the importance of the early years (ages
0-5). Children First! work was accomplished by a couple of people leading the
effort along with many volunteers (approximately 50-75). For many years these
people studied best practices of early childhood programs around the country
and instituted some of them in this area. Some of their work includes: the
annual Children's Fair (which typically attracts 3,000 people the last Saturday
in April), the annual New Year's Eve family celebrations throughout Itasca
County, Baby Steps Boutique, Step Ahead (parent resource center), and several
guest speakers that were nationally renowned experts in their field.
Invest Early came from the minds of many of the people involved with Children
First and filled the gaps that still existed even after the efforts of Children
First. In a way you could say that Invest Early attacked that big elephant
that typically sits in the room of any major issue. We all knew that Head
Start and the family daycare providers and the private preschools and the
School Districts were doing outstanding work with children and families, but
there were still many children and families that were not receiving any
services but really needed them. These families were usually right above
poverty level - meaning they didn't qualify for assistance yet couldn't afford
to pay for services either. It was also extremely difficult to find care for
infants, yet many families needed it in order to keep their jobs. Invest Early
was a response to these two large gaps in services - the "working poor" and
infant care.
Before you think anyone just jumped in to save the day, let me tell you it was
a very long and deliberate process. The design of Invest Early was more than
two years in the making, and if not for the passionate people involved it would
not exist. The designers are all completely unselfish and worked on this
project only because they believed in doing what was best for children and
families. The work started with first laying out a matrix with exactly what
was being offered in the Itasca County area. We didn't want to replicate
services - we wanted to improve services and fill in gaps where services didn't
exist (as mentioned earlier). We also studied what was currently being offered
nation wide and which programs were getting the best results. We consulted
with many experts.
I'd like to compliment both Toni Wilcox and Jaci David for their thoughtful and
accurate responses. Both of them hit the nail on the head with their replies.
Toni mentioned that Invest Early was research based and that there was a
longitudinal evaluation being conducted of Invest Early. That is correct -
Wilder Research has been involved since the beginning. Wilder Research helped
us set up outcomes, indicators, etc. and is analyzing the data that is being
collected. You would be astounded at the data collection plan and would be
impressed by the "Data Tracker", a unique position that most programs don't
have, filled by Lauri Camilli. Lauri is the link between Itasca County and
Wilder. She collects all necessary data and makes sure it gets to Wilder
Research for the analyzing. If anyone is interested, please email me and I can
send you copies of the summary reports for years one, two and three. In a
nutshell, Invest Early is closing the gap between the children with many risk
factors (poverty #1) and their higher income peers when looking at school
readiness.
Toni and Jaci mentioned "coordinated services" and "significant partnerships"
in their responses. That is why Invest Early has been so successful - you have
organizations and agencies all working together for the benefit of children and
families. Head Start (KOOTASCA), the four school districts (ISD 316, 317, 318
and 319), Itasca County Health and Human Services (Public Health), and Itasca
Community College all sit at the table to make decisions and continue the fine
work that has been started. There are many supporting parnters including: Adult
Basic Education, Children's Mental Health, the Itasca County Family YMCA,
Special Education (from the four school districts), and Bemidji State
University. Together, the partners are able to offer early care and education
to more than 300 children in Itasca County. There are 19 classrooms located in
four parts of the county: Deer River, Grand Rapids, Taconite/Marble, and
Nashwauk/Keewatin. These sites provide high-quality care and education five
days a week, 12 months a year, with availability from 6 am to 6 pm.
Many of the families are able to access these services with no or little
charge. Funding comes from numerous sources - federal funding, state funding,
and a grant from the Blandin Foundation. A unique method of blending funds has
stretched the dollars.
Jaci also mentioned the key component of parent engagement. This truly
contributes to the effectiveness of the program and parental input and
involvement are highly valued. Toni mentioned how we need to continue the work
- this is certainly in the works. We need a "continuum of services" all
throughout a child's lifetime - it should not be stopped when they enter the
K-12 system. Anyone who has studied Geoffrey Canada's work with the Harlem
Children's Zone is aware of the pipeline that needs to exist.
If I had to quickly summarize why Invest Early is working and what contributes
to its success my immediate response would be the relationships and the trust
of the people that are implementing this project. They are called the Invest
Early Leadership Team - representatives from the lead partners - that have been
involved in the design and are now involved in the day to day details of the
project. They are passionate, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and completely
devoted to the success of Invest Early. They pour over the Wilder Research
results and constantly ask themselves "How can we improve?" The results never
sit on the shelf - they are looked at and then the team uses them to decide
what additional training is needed for the staff, what needs to be
changed/altered with the curriculum, what changes in the environment are
needed, what kinds of activities would benefit the families, etc. The trust
that exists between these early education leaders is one of a kind. Anyone
visiting or sitting in on a meeting can immediately feel the respect in the
room that each member has for the other. Meetings were held every two weeks
during the design phase, but for the last four years they have been once a
month for four hours at a time. They are set up one year in advance and
attendance is strong.
As mentioned earlier, I could fill up multiple screens. I haven't even
mentioned the exceptional educational training program provided by Itasca
Community College (one year certificate or two year A.S. Degree and an
articulation agreement with BSU for a four-year degree), home visits, services
provided by Children's Mental Health and the School Nurses, or the Referral
Tracking Program, or the Family First events, or the Kindergarten Readiness
Assessment, or the other assessment procedures, or the common application form.
Nor have I told you about the Harvard Business School study that was done on
Invest Early (it has been published but Harvard charges a fee for each copy).
It truly is a remarkable initiative and Itasca County is certainly considered
to be at the forefront of systems change when it comes to early childhood
education.
Please feel free to call me for more information. I have also forwarded the
request for more information to the director of Invest Early.
Thanks for asking!
Mary Kosak
218-327-8734
Rest of post
________________________________________
From: <email obscured> [<email obscured>]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 8:48 PM
To: gr@forums.e-democracy.org
Subject: [GR] A Civil Society: Democracy, Disagreement, Decisions, & Vital
Issues
Who can provide us some information on "Invest Early" and "Children First"?
It seems to me these programs are breaking from old ideas that are not yet
dead, such as: education starts with kindergarten and its up to parents to
train their children in early childhood - until they start school.
Is this area prgressive in its approach to early childhood education?
Tarry Edington
Tarry Edington
Arbo Township, Grand Rapids
Info about Tarry Edington:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/21UUNs8uY13gOaVdREz8CU
View all messages on this topic at:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/7r79WoiYdacE0hVzEvcUqR
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