Highlights and Themes from the YCB's Second Federal Early Learning Opportunities Act Grant

Thanks to one million dollars in federal and YCB funding from September 2004 to June 2006, we had the opportunity to work in collaboration with several key partners to improve the school readiness of young children in Minneapolis. Highlights include:

•  Provided early literacy training to more than 400 child care providers. Eighty providers participated in language-specific training (Spanish, Somali, or Hmong).

•  Piloted and tested two additional emerging strategies to help children with social/emotional challenges in childcare:

•  Nearly 100 individual children experiencing child care adjustment difficulties received one-on-one direct services through a national intervention model.

•  Nearly 100 child care staff participated in training on the healthy social and emotional development of young children.

Over the course of our work, common themes emerged:

Minneapolis children need help.
Many Minneapolis children have social and emotional development concerns. Results from the child intervention strategy indicate that over one-third of participating children are at-risk, which is higher than the national model.

Quality child care makes a difference.
All three strategies positively impacted provider knowledge, skills of children, or both. In addition, intervention coaches became a trusted resource within child care settings. In turn, child care staff were more likely to address complex issues because they had access to expert advisors.

Consistency matters.
Consistent child enrollment and provider stability are crucial to achieving positive results from a child intervention or research-based curriculum.
Children require stability in a trusted setting to make progress, but they often must withdraw abruptly when parents lose eligibility for assistance. System instability contributes to excessive staff turnover.

There are not enough resources to serve children in need of school readiness help.
We have heard from a variety of sources that there are not enough places to refer children in need of a boost in order to be ready for kindergarten.
An increasingly accurate data system through the Minneapolis Public Schools Early Childhood Information Station will help provide the data to substantiate this reality in the future.

YCB Co-sponsors Successful Parent & Community Summit for Learning

On Saturday September 30, more than 160 parents, community members, educators and elected officials gathered at Minneapolis Community and Technical College to discuss ways that we can all better engage with our children and youth to ensure they become more successful learners. The event featured opening remarks by YCB Board members Mayor R.T. Rybak, Interim Superintendent Bill Green and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, and by MCTC President Phil Davis. The closing circle featured remarks by YCB Director of Policy & Communications Danielle Grant and MPS Chief of Student Support and Community Engagement Eleanor Coleman as well as several summit participants.

The event was unique in that it used "open space" group dynamics to bring participants together around common goals for education.  The open space process operated much like a political caucus. It was an organic process that empowered attendees to name their areas of passion and to assemble fellow attendees in small groups to strategize action steps for important community work.   At the summit, the playing field was leveled, allowing every voice to be heard.

The next step in the process is to compile the information gathered at the event and pull out the key learnings and overarching themes. The planning committee will then distribute the data from the event to each participant. A new website will be a place for continuing dialogue and can be found at http://dpac.mpls.k12.mn.us/Power_of_Engagement_Summit_Message_Board.html . A follow up event this winter will build upon the work of the summit.

“So … how are the children?”

In June, the YCB released its second “So…how are the children?” report on the school readiness of Minneapolis children. While overall the news was not positive, the report is seen as a useful tool for monitoring progress on key indicators of school readiness. The report has been widely distributed and well-received in the community. Many organizations are using it to target their efforts and highlight Minneapolis children's needs.

When the report was originally released to policymakers, three strategic priority areas for YCB early childhood efforts emerged:

•  Finding more resources and targeting them to programs and services that work

•  Improving outreach to support families and young children in their efforts to boost school readiness

•  Engaging with communities to create a true culture of learning

Next steps will focus on various strategies for addressing each of these three areas. For copies of the report, contact the YCB at 612-673-2060. To learn more about the YCB's School Readiness Initiative, contact Carol Miller at 612-348-8983.

YCB Welcomes new Executive/Project Assistant Sindiswa Bediako

The YCB is pleased to announce a new addition to our staff. Sindiswa Bediako will join the YCB on October 10 as the Executive/Project Assistant. This position will handle essential support duties, but also to be an essential member of the team working on policy/program initiatives. Sindiswa has an abundance of experience working for and with youth. Her most recent experience was as a Program Coordinator for the non-profit WE Win Institute, Inc., where she worked with youth on programs to improve their social and academic achievement. Please join us in welcoming Sindiswa as a valuable member of the YCB team.

Humphrey Institute Students to work for YCB as Capstone Project

This summer, the YCB submitted a proposal to the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute “capstone” class in which final year public policy/public affairs graduate students need to work on a policy-focused project in such a way that it draws on their coursework from their graduate school studies. This fall, three Humphrey Institute Students - Kim Belk, Chanelle Gandy, and Melissa Reed - will be working with the YCB on the Out-of-School Time (OST) policy initiative. Specifically, they will be conducting a review of funding history for OST programs and the impact the change in funding has had on the availability of programs; they will assist the YCB in the community meetings scheduled for this fall and will conduct the initial analysis of information collected at those meetings; and they will assist in developing any policy proposals from this work. They will make a presentation of their work at the December YCB Board meeting.