May 9, 2016
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Southeast VT Building Bright Futures-
Your source for all things early childhood

I hope everyone had a relaxing, nourishing, rejuvenating, celebratory, quiet, loving Mother's Day.

April...our Month of the Young Child...has come and gone. We had over 40 events for families to join this year. An amazing array of activities/events focused on connecting children and families with community resources, supports and enriching activities. 

Safe the date. November 15, 2016.  "Making it Work in Windham" summit, connecting the dots between a thriving economy and thriving families. 8-10am at the Brattleboro Retreat.

Our May 11th council meeting will focus on equity in early childhood. Check out the details below. We look forward to a rich, engaging conversation. Our June 8th council meeting will highlight family events and opportunities throughout the summer and a presentation/discussion led by the Vermont Early Childhood Alliance. We'll be unpacking the end of the VT legislative session and the impact on children and families.

May and June mean LOTS of events, activities and opportunities for families and for early childhood professionals. Look for details in our events section. 

Here's the tick-tock for this month's Telegraph for your reading, listening and viewing pleasure:
  • May 11 council meeting: Equity in early childhood
  • April 13 council meeting notes and council actions
  • Regional equity discussions. 
  • Making it Work in Windham summit save the date
  • VT Families Story project
  • Brattleboro Promise Communities update
  • Let's Grow Kids campaign updates including 5/13 and 5/25 events
  • Blue Ribbon Commission Updates
  • VT Early Childhood Alliance Annual Meeting and updates
  • Publicly funded PreK now open for registration!
  • Early Learning Challenge grant project updates
  • United Way Coats for Kids
  • Proposed changes to VT's child care licensing regulations
  • Windham County food programs
  • Events, events, oh my!
  • Job opportunities
  • Interesting reads, watches and listens
Cheers!

Chad
Ember doing her best Sideshow Bob impersonation... days before crawling for the first time.
802.451.9345

 
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.

Council Operating Principles, including Steering Committee Roles & ResponsibilitiesClick Here  for the approved council operating principles including the steering committee roles and responsibilities.

May 11 Council Meeting
Equity in Early Childhood

We are looking forward to our next Southeast Vermont BBF regional council meeting,  Wednesday, May 11 from 4-6pm at Winston Prouty, 20 Winston Prouty Way in Brattleboro.  We will have a presentation and discussion on equity in early childhood. We'll share what's been happening across the state and locally. Snacks and child care will be provided. Please RSVP if you need child care. Click Here for a full agenda.

To give you a sense of what kinds of conversations and actions are taking place,  Click Here to read a great article how early educators can play a role in interrupting bias early on in life.

Click Here for our April 13 council meeting notes, including themes from our parent panel.

Council Approves Letter Providing Guidance on Early Care & Education Professional Development
Click Here to read a letter submitted to BBF State Advisory Council (SAC) and others addressing some concerns and ideas on how to move forward with the states overhaul of Early Care & Education Professional Development and quality. Please let me know if you would like updates emailed to you.

Below is the schedule for our spring and summer council meetings. All meetings will run from 4-6pm and be at  Winston Prouty Center, 20 Winston Prouty Way, Brattleboro, unless otherwise noted.
  • June 8, summer family engagement & legislative recap from VT Early Childhood Alliance
  • July 13, annual summer family picnic
  • No August council meeting
  • September 14, Family education & support; Steering Committee elections


Equity & Social Justice in Early Childhood & Families
Upcoming workshops and discussions

In January 2016 we got a conversation started about Race, Class and Gender in Early Learning. Over 20 people participated! 

Let's keep this powerful conversation going on issues of race, class and gender.

Thursdays, May 19
6-8pm
Windham Regional Career Center, Brattleboro

Facilitated by Angela Berkfield and Mikaela Simms of Act for Social Justice
To RSVP or for questions contact Nancy Witherill at nancy@windhamchildcare.org or 254.5332 ext 312

Click Here for the poster.

Also, join regular conversations on "Parenting for Social Justice." Next discussion is on Wednesday, May 11 from 6-7:30pm at the Putney Public Library. Click Here for details.

Click Here for the parenting for social justice blog 

Stay connected with equity issues facing early childhood on the "VT Early Childhood Equity" Facebook page. Resources, research and articles on race, gender, class, inclusion in early childhood systems.

Finally, Click Here to register for an Equity & Racism webinar on May 12th at Noon. Join us for the new ZERO TO THREE Journal Author Spotlight featuring Wendy Harris. Ms. Harris will share strategies and lessons learned in creating a training initiative for staff members which addresses equity and racism at individual, organizational, and systemic levels. This session is filling up quickly, so make sure you register today!

In advance of the Spotlight, all registrants will receive a complimentary download of Wendy Harris' Journal article, "Building Equity in the Birth-to-3 System: Who Is in the Room?" published in the March 2016 issue.





 
VT Family Stories Project
Ensuring the full participation of each child

Vermont is developing  Guiding Principles for the Full Participation of Each Child.
 
The goal is to create a set of principles that ensure each and every child, and their family, feels a sense of belonging in early care and education settings.
 
To guide the development of these principles,  we are collecting family stories to represent the hopes, values, and voices of Vermont families.
 
We hope to collect stories from a diverse group of Vermont families, emphasizing culturally, linguistically, racially, ethnically, socio-economically, and geographically diverse families who have young children (ages birth to age 8) with and without disabilities.
 
Please help us collect stories from families you know!
If everyone collects one story, it will help us to weave together a rich narrative and make certain that family voices are included in the development of the guiding principles.
 
There are many ways to collect & share!
  1. Pass out paper surveys. Click Here for paper survey.
  2. Interview families and take detailed notes
  3. Interview families and audio record
  4. Direct families to fill out online survey. Click Here for survey.
  All stories collected can be shared at VTFamilyStoriesProject@gmail.com

 
 
Brattleboro Promise Community
Green Street neighborhood efforts moving forward

The Green St Promise Community continues to meet every 2nd Thursday of the month as a full group and is actively holding regular "pods" (intimate gatherings). Click Here for the most recent notes.  Please be in touch if you want to talk about any aspect of the initiative, join us at Rooster Coffee hour every Friday from 9-11am, and/or our next event at the Root Social Justice Center on Thursday, May 12th from 5:30-8pm.
 
We're going to hear about recent community conversations (Pods), plan for the next round, and continue our data review.
 
Communication

Here is our google drive, google calendar, and facebook page for folks looking for it. We're also putting together a separate google group for folks that want to communicate more often for planning purposes, please sign up here if you're interested:
  • Google Groups
  • Our drive of minutes, agendas, and resources. Click Here.
  • Facebook group, please join and share. Click Here.
  • Calendar of events. Click Here. If you are very savvy, you can overlay this on your own calendar and not need to bother adding PC events
April Retreat
Thanks to all who came and participated and moved our work forward so dynamically.

Rod sent me something that I would like to share with y'all--

I woke up listening to Krista Tippet "On Being" and of course found a far more succinct way of articulating what I needed to say yesterday. Which is: We think process and mutual respect are important. This shapes our work and produces meaningful outcomes in its own way. This deep endeavor cannot be and should not be confined to external quantitative or even chronological progress measures (how much have we done how much time is left) because the work of human understanding and building change this project strives for lies outside these categories of forward movement  (which we know should not be confused with actual progress ).
 
To bookend the retreat we committed to stepping up into making the initiative what we want it to be. People committed to putting together a community cafĂ© focused art installation, playing a greater role in connecting us to state wide conversations, hosting more pod conversations, committing to reading and discussing outside resources, connecting to other Promise Communities, and doing some 'street' conversations. This process brought us together in outlook as well as commitment with comments about: communicating candidly across demographic barriers, finding the roots in the grassroots, everyone having a voice, everyone being represented, and promoting social connections.  
 
We spent a good chunk of our day on data conversations. Some highlights from those conversations:  
  • When discussing the percentage of kids with well child visits, we touched upon pediatricians and obs as a first encounter or gateway with the EC system. . .how doctors are able to spot ongoing developmental concerns in a well child visit that they wouldn't notice in a sick child. ...and that the soft coercion of school systems and providers might play a role in these numbers.
  • The number of teens giving birth in our community is a relatively low absolute number despite many community conversations about a "crisis." Where does this story come from? How do we shift it?
The full conversations are recorded in an ongoing powerpoint presentation linked to the data in our google drive and we'll review them regularly as well as sharing them at a community forum (tba.)

For more information, contact Emilie Kornheiser, Promise Communities Coach for Southern Vermont at 
802.363.5710 or emilie.kornheiser@vermont.gov

Let's Grow Kids Updates
May 13 Speaker's Bureau event and May 25 "Stalled at the Start" event

As part of the  Let's Grow Kids Action Team efforts, here is a great opportunity to participate in:

LGK is hosting a Speakers Bureau on May 13th in Brattleboro.  Click Here  for details and to register. 

LGK is also hosting "Stalled at the Start: Vermont's Child Care Challenge" event on May 25.  Click Here  for details and to register.

To RSVP, carpool or any questions, contact:

LGK Field Coordinator

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Blue Ribbon Commission
For news, details and updates on the Blue Ribbon Commission on financing high quality, affordable child care, Click Here.

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Why Early Childhood Matters to Business
Click Here to watch the recently released video with interviews 

Vermont Early Childhood Alliance
Annual membership meeting and Early Childhood Day at the Legislature recap

Click Here for more details and to register for the May 25 2nd Annual Membership Meeting.

Signing of Paid Sick Leave legislation
Click Here for a full recap of the March 9 Early Childhood Day at the legislature, including the Gubernatorial forum and keynote from Rhian Allvin, Executive Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

Click Here to read the 2016 Legislative Agenda, describing the issues VECA is focusing on this legislative session. 

Connect with and join the Vermont Early Childhood Alliance (VECA) and stay engaged with legislation that impacts our children and families. Stay informed and get involved by  joining the Alliance! Follow early childhood issues on the Alliance's website or by liking us on Facebook.

Publicly Funded PreK Now Open
Supervisory Unions open up applications for Public PreK


Below are details on publicly funded PreK for the four Supervisory Unions in our region for the 2016-2017 school year. 

 Click Here to see Vermont's Act 166, public PreK webpage.

Windham Southeast Supervisory Union
If you are the Parent or Guardian of a child between the ages of 3-5 years, your child can access 10 hours per week of publicly funded pre-kindergarten education at 18 community based preschools. Pre-k education is designed to provide children with play-based early learning experiences aligned with Vermont Early Learning Standards to gain social and academic skills that prepare them for school. Applications for the 2016-17 school year are available at area preschools, on the WSESU website, http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us,  and by calling Janice Stockman at 254-3755. Click Here to download the application.
 
Windham Southwest Supervisory Union 
If you are the Parent or Guardian of a child between the ages of 3-5 years, your child can access 10 hours per week of publicly funded pre-kindergarten education at any pre-qualified community based preschools. Pre-K education is designed to provide children with play-based early learning experiences aligned with Vermont Early Learning Standards to gain social and academic skills that prepare them for school. Area pre-qualified community based preschools in the WSWSU area include:
Readsboro Preschool Incorporated-Readsboro- (802) 423-5100
Meeting House Preschool -Marlboro- (802) 257-0801
Kids in the Country Preschool- Dover- (802) 348-7476
Dover Elementary School- Dover- (802) 464-5386
Stamford School PreK- Stamford- (802) 694-1379
Applications for the 2016-17 school year are available at area preschools, on the WSWSU website ( http://www.windhamsw.k12.vt.us ), and by calling Kathy Rapp, Essential Early Education Coordinator, WSWSU, 464-1300 x122. Click Here for details and to view the application.
 
Windham Central Supervisory Union
If you are the Parent or Guardian of a child between the ages of 3-5 years, your child can access 10 hours per week of publicly funded pre-kindergarten education at any pre-qualified preschool. WCSU has tuition free publicly funded prekindergarten for 4 year olds in three sites: Jamaica, Townshend and Wardsboro. The Dover School offers publicly funded prekindergarten for 3 & 4 year olds.  Click Here for details. 
 
Windham Northeast Supervisory Union
If you are the Parent or Guardian of a child between the ages of 3-5 years, (child must be at least 3 years old by September 1, 2016) and you are a resident of one of the WNESU member towns (Athens, Grafton, Rockingham, or Westminster), there are two ways to access universal preschool under Vermont's new law, Act 166:
  • Families can get 10 free hours per week during the school year at any prequalified preschool program in the state. Public funding for preschool is sent directly to the pre-qualified provider. A list of pre-qualified programs can be found at:  http://www.brightfutures.dcf.state.vt.us/vtcc
  • Families may apply for a spot at the WNESU Early Education Center. There are three sites in WNESU towns providing free public preschool for 10 hours per week during the school year.
Families must register with WNESU to access universal preschool. Preschool registration forms are available at pre-qualified programs in the area or by calling Jennifer Wolfe (802) 463-1487 .


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, which includes the 2015 Annual Performance Report Update.


 
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.


Coats for Kids Windham County
United Way launches fundraising campaign for program

This program continues in the spirit of the Brattleboro Reformer Stocking program, providing winter gear for Windham County Families. Coats for Kids will provide winter gear for Windham County families 0-6th grade.

We need to raise $75,000 to make this happen next year!

Click Here for the donation form. You can also text "toasty" to 41444.

Click Here to listen to an interview on Green Mountain Mornings discussing the program.


Child Care Licensing Regulations Released
Proposed revisions released and in final review process.

The Child Development Division (CDD) released the revised child care licensing regulations for both center based and family child care home programs on March 11th. This revision provides clarification and incorporates new information to update definitions, staff qualifications, effective program operation and changes in both program and regulatory practice.



Our Children-Our Food
Food Connects updates on school and child food efforts
For more information:
 
Katherine Gillespie Jandernoa
CoFounder & Farm to School Program Manager
Office: 802-579-1082
Cell: 508-971-2855

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.
  • It Takes a Village. Volunteers provide support to families with an infant by visiting their home for two hours a week for 12 weeks. This happens all around Windham County. For more information, Click Here or contact Jessica Perkins at brattleborovillage@gmail.com.
  • Moments of Meeting: A group for babies and parents. April - May. Monday mornings, 10:30am-Noon in Guilford. For parents and caregivers of children newborn and 10 months. Contact at 802.257.8641 or lornicochran.com
Trainings
  • Windham Child Care Association calendar of Trainings & Workshops. Click Here for the full calendar.
  • VT Early Learning Standards (VELS) Training. June 20 & 21; 23 & 24. Click Here for details. 
Events
  • Mother Up!: Parents Exchange for Change. 
    A campaign of 350 Vermont in building solidarity amongst parents by taking action to protect the health and safety of our collective future. Event in Brattleboro on May 22. Click Here for details.
  • 3SquaresVT Conference. May 31 in Brattleboro. Click Here for details.
  • Summer Food Kickoff. Summer Food Kick-off on Friday, June 3, from 5pm - 7pm at the Boys & Girls Club on Flat Street in Brattleboro - FREE dinner will be served for all families! FREE meals available to ALL children aged 18 and under during the summer. Summer Food Service Program runs throughout Windham County and there is NO paperwork or registration to participate. Meals are open and free to all people 18 and under and many sites offer breakfast and lunch. A complete list of sites will be available by the end of the school year - call Vermont 2-1-1 (toll free from anywhere in VT), text "mealsVT" to 877877 or visit www.vermontfoodhelp.com
  • Strolling of the Heifers Weekend. June 3 and 4. Family friendly parade and events. Includes It Takes a Village tent for pregnant and new moms.Click Here for details and schedule. 
  • Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) Touch a Truck. June 11. Click Here  for details. 

Job Announcements
  • Windham County job openings in the early childhood field. For the full list, Click Here.
  • Full-time Lead Teacher needed for an infant/toddler classroom of six weeks to two year olds. Send cover letter, resume, and 3 references to Allie McFalls, Director, at familygardeninc@gmail.com
  • Lead Teachers, Licensed Teacher, Assistant Teachers. Winston Prouty.Kim Paquette, ELC Coordinator The Winston Prouty Center20 Winston Prouty WayBrattleboro, VT 05301kim@winstonprouty.org

Interesting Stuff To Read, Watch & Listen:
  • Winston Prouty programing, Family Matters. Click Here to watch various programs about early childhood development
  • Early & Often: Showing up in Preschool Matters.Click Here for a Toolkit for PreK attendance.
  • Strain on Foster Care system. Click Here to read.
  • Grit is not enough. Click Here for story. 
  • Impact of screen time on children. Click Here to read.
  • Microaggressions in early childhood. Click Here to read.
  • Sexuality, consent and young children. Click Here to read.
  • Gearing up for Public PreK. Click Here to listen.

Like & Share Us On The Facebook   
You liked us on Facebook and we like you back.

Now that we've surpassed 150...nope, not stopping. I'm going to keep bugging you. Like our page. Ask people you barely know to like our page. Like our page twice if you can (you can't). Follow us and be happy.   Click Here Cheers! The Chadly.   
Contact:
Chad Simmons, Regional Council Coordinator
BBF SeVT | csimmons@buildingbrightfutures.org  | 802.451.8627