Southeast VT Building Bright Futures-
Your source for all things early childhood
Hurry up to slow down. That's been the name of the game for yours truly since returning from family leave earlier this month. As I listen to stories from other families, caregivers, child and family professionals, this seems to be the norm. How we
Make it work is a challenge, at best, for so many fams.
I am grateful for the layers, upon layers of support our family receives on the daily. I do this work to ensure every Vermont family, regardless, has support, access and encouragement to raise thriving children...future dreamers, teachers, creators and activists.
As usual, we've stuffed every morsel of this here telegraph full of news, events and updates regarding the dizzying world of early childhood (I've given up on brevity). Grab a cuppa Joe or tea and enjoy!
- December 9th special council meeting & discussion
- November 11th council meeting notes
- New council steering committee starts in January
- BBF policy brief focus on bullying prevention
- Brattleboro Promise Communities update
- VT Early Childhood Alliance legislative agenda & Day at the Legislature
- Let's Grow Kids campaign updates, including Small Talk & Blue Ribbon Commission
- VT Foodbank food pantry pick up & Direct Distribution
- Early Learning Challenge grant project updates
- Child Care & Development Block Grant update and input
- Help Me Grow
- Interesting reads, watches and listens
Oh,
Click Here for a family Thanksgiving short I thought y'all would appreciate. What history are we giving our kindergarteners? A bit of raw, informed humor.
With love and gratitude-
Chad
|
|
| Story time w/ Momma & Ember |
802.451.8627
Who is BBF and what do we do?
Building Bright Futures (BBF) harnesses the power of Vermont communities to improve child and family well-being. BBF serves the dual role as both the Vermont Early Childhood Advisory Council and 501(c)(3) statewide network, aligning local solutions of 12 regional Councils with policy at the state level.
|
Special December 9th Council Meeting
Sifting through the confusing state of our early childhood system
Join us for a special presentation and discussion to sift through the confusing state of our early childhood system. This will be an opportunity to better understand the state and local players, how they are connected and the role the BBF regional council plays in connecting the dots. We'll be rolling out our priorities for the coming year. This will also be our holiday social.
Click Here
to RSVP and share our Facebook event. Or, email Chad at [email protected] that you will be attending. Hearty refreshments and child care will be available. Please RSVP! Space is limited. Click Here for the event flyer.
December 9th, 4-6pm. Holton Hall Conference Room Austine Campus, 130 Austine Dr., Brattleboro.
|
Monthly Council Meetings
November 11th meeting notes
The Southeast Vermont BBF regional council meetings are held every 2nd Wednesday of the month, 4-6pm at Winston Prouty.
Below is the schedule for our fall & winter council meetings. All meetings will run from 4-6pm and be at
Winston Prouty Center, 20 Winston Prouty Way, Brattleboro, unless otherwise noted.
Light food/refreshments are provided. Child care available upon request.
- Dec 9th **Special location, Holton Hall Conference Rm, Austine Campus, Brattleboro**
- January 13th
- February 10th
- March 9th
|
New Council Steering Committee!
Steering committee elections are in and new group starts in January
Council Steering Committee Elections
The council steering committee provides direction to the council and council coordinator (me!). A sincere thank you to Janice Stockman and Kathy Rapp for serving on the committee this past year and for playing such pivotal role in improving our council governance.
Our final steering committee meeting with current members will be December 2nd. Beginning in January, the following will serve as the council steering committee:
- Chloe Leary, Winston Prouty Center for Child Development
- Sue Graff, United Way of Windham County
- Margaret Atkinson, Windham Child Care Association
- Sadie Fischesser, Agency of Human Services
- Sandy Stark, Early Education Services
- Vicky Senni, Let's Grow Kids
Council Operating Principles, including Steering Committee Roles & Responsibilities
Click Here for the approved council operating principles including the steering committee roles and responsibilities.
|
New BBF Policy Brief
Early childhood risk factors to prevent bullying
"Early childhood presents an unparalleled opportunity to prevent bullying by addressing mean behavior and aggression in early childhood before it becomes organized and intentional. Promoting "pro-social" behaviors such as empathy and kindness during this critical period helps build skills that prevent later bullying behaviors, as well as the risk of being bullied. Research also shows that the p
revention of bullying and its consequences can be enhanced by focusing on risk groups in early life."
|
Brattleboro Promise Community
Green Street neighborhood efforts taking shape
The Green St Promise Community met as a full planning group has met 7 times since forming. We have extended evening meetings so we can share dinner. At our October meeting, we went on a community walk and spoke of assets that we observed. The walk took us down Green St where we cut through a path behind the school that many of us hadn't known about-to land on Elliott Terace, then up Estey to Organ St and down another secret carriage trail to Birge, and then down along the river with Frost Place, and then back up just in time for darkness and dinner.
After dinner we moved from the lived experience of the neighborhood to the measured experience of the neighborhood-looking at some demographics and asking four key questions (based on Results Based Accountability.) We use this framework to look at the answers to the questions that we compiled this summer, and filter out the pieces that best tell the story of our community. We will then use this data to narrate our community description and in turn shape our road map.
The Green St Community also meets informally every Friday morning at a local coffee shop to touch base without agendas, and is forming outreach teams, called Pods to have deeper community conversations.
Click Here to follow the Green Street efforts on Facebook.
Click Here to read a recent article on Promise Communities and its involvement with the Windham County Hunger Council.
|
Vermont Early Childhood Alliance
Launches 2016 Agenda & updates on March 9th Day at the Legislature
Click Here for the recently released 2016 Legislative Agenda, describing the issues VECA is focusing on this legislative session.
Save the date for Wednesday, March 9th for the annual Early Childhood Day at the Legislature. Click Here for details.
|
Let's Grow Kids Launches Small Talk Videos
Vermonters sharing stories of how they interact with the early childhood system
In partnership with Building Bright Futures, Vermont Community Access Media and Vermont Folklife Center, Let's Grow Kids spent the summer traversing the state capturing stories...How Vermonter's experience the early childhood system. As parents, professionals, advocates and decision makers.
Click Here
to watch and share these powerful stories.
For updates, news and ways to get involved in the Let's Grow Kids efforts,
Click Here.
For news, details and updates on the Blue Ribbon Commission on financing high quality, affordable child care,
Click Here.
|
Vermont Food Bank Sites & Dates
School food pantry pick up and distribution dates
The Vermont Food Bank recently announced upcoming food bank pick up direct distribution dates. All families of WSESU students are invited to pick up fresh produce on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month.
Click Here for details.
Also, the Direct Distribution program will be available on November 24 and December 22nd for all families in need of fresh food.
Click Here for details.
|
Update on VT's Early Learning Challenge Grant
A detailed update on activities related to VT's ELC grant  For a full overview and monthly updates, Click Here for details on the VT Early Learning Challenge-Race To the Top (ELC-RTT) grant. Click Here to read the latest grant updates
The ELC grant is a $36.9 million, federally funded, four-year grant to help build a high-quality and accessible early childhood system in the state so that all young children will be ready to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.
|
Child Care & Development Block Grant
Updates and opportunity to provide feedback
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 was passed by the Congress and signed into law by President Obama in November 2014. This act is also referred to as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). This is the federal funding source and guidance for the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) and all related child care quality and professional development initiatives administered by the Vermont Department for Children and Families, Child Development Division (CDD).
Please take a look at this document.
If you have questions or feedback that you would like to make, please send them to:
|
VT United Way 2-1-1 Launches Help Me Grow
Statewide service to support children with young children
Click Here to read the launch details of Help Me Grow, which will support existing local early intervention efforts. For more information on the Help Me Grow model, Click Here.
|
 What's Happening?
News & events for and from the field.
News & Updates
- Windham County Parent Resource Calendar. Click Here to see all Windham County events, workshops, classes for children and families.
- Updates on Vermont's Universal Pre-K law, Act 166.Click Here to read.
- Parenting and Social Justice.Click Here to take a short survey and find out more about a free parenting for social justice monthly conversation planned by Act for Social Justice and the Putney Library.
- Windham Child Care Association seeking board members. For details or to send a letter of interest, contact Jim Maland at [email protected], or 60 Chestnut Hill, Brattleboro, VT 05301.
Events
- Coffee & Conversation: Stories of Homelessness, photo, video, art exhibit. Dec 4th and opening reception Dec. 5. Click Here for details.
- Autism Safety Webinar. December 7th. Click Here for details.
Job Announcements
- Windham County job openings in the early childhood field. For the full list, Click Here.
Interesting Stuff To Read, Watch & Listen:
- Climate change and children's health. Click Here to read.
- Too Small to Fail: Return on investment on early childhood education. Dartmouth Hitchcock Pediatric Grand Rounds.Click Here to watch.
- Guest Deb Forrett, a medical social worker for Vermont Department of Health appears on Winston Prouty Early Learning Center's Family Matters program. Click Here to watch.
- Child care workers aren't paid enough to make ends meet. Click Here to read
- New report on pathways from poverty in VT. Click Here to listen.
-
VT State Employees Association makes recommendations for improved child protection
.
to read.
-
Within Reach, Campaign to put high-quality child care and pre-k within reach for working families
.
Click Here to read.
|
Like & Share Us On The Facebook
You liked us on Facebook and we like you back.
Now that we've surpassed 100, I'm taking 36 days off of bugging you. Be sure to check us out for regular news, articles, tips and interesting posts. Click Here. Thanks!
|
|
