Bladen Smart Start-A Partnership for Children

PROGRAM COORDINATION AND EVALUATION: Activity ID 004 PSC:5603 PBISID:PS10 The Program Coordination and Evaluation activity will ensure that Smart Start funded activities operate in compliance and efficacy to meet the needs of the young children of Bladen County. The Program Manager, full time employee, will guide Smart Start funded activities in developing evaluation plans and will provide assistance to ensure that partnership goals, objectives, benchmarks, Early Childhood profile standards, projected outputs and outcomes are met. This quality assurance process may be coordinated in conjunction with the services of a contract evaluator. The Program Manager will have oversight of meeting programmatic goals and objectives, development and reporting of short- and long-term outputs and outcomes, compilation of data and researching best practices for model fidelity. The Program Manager will develop and disseminate programmatic reports and assist with needs-based strategic planning. This activity will also provide support to partnership staff and community partners through trainings and technical assistance in order to successfully implement programs and practices.

RAISING A READER: Activity ID 431 PSC:5512 PBISID:FS20 A Raising A Reader (RAR) Community Coordinator will implement Raising A Reader, a program that promotes improved literacy development through daily book sharing between caregivers and young children. The RAR Coordinator will hold a Bachelor''s degree in early childhood education or related human service field and is required to attend the RAR National Coordinator Training prior to initial implementation. Coordinators will host two trainings for the site implementers that have been identified to participate in this project. Identified families will be loaned a book bag containing high quality developmentally appropriate children''s books. The books will be exchanged each week. Parents of the children in the project will be invited to participate in at least two parent workshops where they will learn book sharing strategies. At least one library event will be provided for RAR participants and their families. Participants and their families will be provided with library information, library card application, and other community literacy resources. The program will be implemented with model fidelity as described above. Smart Start funds may also be used for books for children, child care for participants, and light meals for workshops. Classroom teachers may be eligible for a mid-year classroom literacy-themed incentive after they have completed 10 weeks of book rotation to recognize their efforts related to documentation and bag management necessary for RAR.

Bladen Community Outreach & Development, Activity ID 006 PSC:5517 PBISID:H60 Bladen Community Outreach & Development (BCOD) will be a comprehensive activity that will build awareness of the importance of early childhood development, availability of Smart Start funded activities and services and other community resources. This activity will disseminate and coordinate information about activities, data and resources throughout Bladen County. The Outreach team will work collaboratively with other key players in implementing a shared vision and common goals to support Bladen''s early childhood systems building initiative. Other components of BCOD may focus on website management, media releases(print/social), newsletters, brochures, material distribution and community presentations. Outreach services/strategies may include but are not limited to awareness about family early literacy, family engagement, and parent education efforts, hosting stakeholders meetings, focus groups, community planning for Week of the Young Child, hosting of meetings for Bladen Early Childhood Ambassadors (BECA), Kids Fest, Read Across Bladen and other services to enhance community collaboration between staff and community. Food (meals and/or refreshments) may be provided through this activity. The Outreach team may help plan, host, and participate in community events and committee meetings. Staff time will be allocated to this activity. Contractual staff maybe utilized when appropriate. The Outreach team will attend trainings/workshops and professional development opportunities when available.

DOLLY PARTON IMAGINATION LIBRARY: The Dolly Parton's Imagination Library promotes emergent literacy skills through a partnership with Dollywood Foundation. Through this activity, age-appropriate books will be mailed to registered children birth up to age five monthly.

MOTHERREAD STORY EXPLORING: Activity ID 028 PSC:3109 PBISID:PLA40 The Bladen Motheread Story Exploring activity will provide training and mentoring to early educators in Bladen County.Children, ages birth to five, enrolled in participating BladenCounty facilities, will be provided withliteracy rich environments. The Bladen Motheread Story Exploring activity will support teachers and other caregivers by helping them build the skills needed to prepare children for success in school. Registration fees and activity materials associated with this training may be provided as a noncash incentive to participating early educators. A Community Outreach Literacy Educator may provide follow-up visits and feedback to early educators who are implementing Bladen's Motheread Story Exploring. The Community Outreach Literacy Educator may assist trained early educators in successfully integrating the Story Exploring Curriculum in their daily use of the Creative Curriculum and/or other DCDEE approved curriculum. Light refreshments may be served as a part of these trainings.

BLADENS COLOR ME HEALTHY, Activity ID 027 PSC:3424 PBISID:H60 Color Me Healthy is an evidence informed train- the- trainer approach designed to improve fruit and vegetable intake and increase physical activity among 4 and 5-year-old children in child care and preschool settings. Bladen Smart Start staff may complete the training to become a Color Me Healthy trainer. New training will be provided for up to 12 staff from up to 6 child care classrooms in Bladen County. Refresher training will be provided for the staff of the facilities that are currently enrolled in the program. Each trained participant will receive, as an educational resource incentive, the Color Me Healthy curriculum which includes: a teacher''s guide, picture cards, classroom posters, a compact disk and/or other media, and reproducible parent newsletters. Spanish Add-On Sets may also be provided as one per facility. The teacher''s guide contains lessons designed to be used during circle time and can be taught daily or weekly. The program will be implemented with fidelity. Smart Start funds may be used to cover training, materials, and staff travel. This activity may include technical assistance and site visits may be completed with child care facilities for recruitment and check-in purposes. Non-cash incentives will be offered for trained early childcare educators that complete the lesson plans in each age-appropriate classroom per the eligibility guidelines as well as the evaluation requirement. Light meals may be served as a part of these trainings.

BLADENS BE ACTIVE BE HEALTHY PSC:3424 PBISID:H60 This activity will provide Be Active Kids (BAK) training to child care providers focused on developing positive physical activity and nutrition habits of children 0-5 years of age. The Be Active Kids program is an evidenced informed train -the-trainer approach consisting of a developmentally appropriate curriculum kit of educational materials, interactive games, and hands-on lesson plans to help engage children in learning about healthy lifestyles. One staff person will complete the training to become a Be Active Kids trainer. New training will be provided for up to 15 staff from up to 5child care facilities in Bladen County. Refresher trainings will be held for the staff members from the currently enrolled facilities. Once trained, participants will incorporate lessons plans and other materials throughout the daily instruction to integrate learning and movement in childcare and preschool settings. The program will be implemented with fidelity. Smart Start funds may be used to cover training, materials, and staff travel. This activity may include technical assistance and up to two site visits per child care facility may be completed for recruitment and check-in purposes. Curriculum kits and puppet kits may be provided as non-cash educational resources to early educators who complete the training. Light meals may be served during these trainings. In addition, non-cash incentives will be offered to child care facilities for using BAK in accordance with the BAK rewards program as well as for completing the evaluation requirements. In addition, Playdaze events will be offered at child care facilities to encourage physical activity.