Every young child deserves to thrive and have a healthy life of learning, achieving and succeeding.

We believe that nurturing young children is both a parental and community responsibility. We advance this belief by providing support for the development of community-based coalitions and assist these coalitions to develop a local vision and strategic plan that focuses on quality early childhood care and education. Communities that participate in the program are those that have completed the foundation’s Healthy Communities Partnership (HCP) program, and identified the care and education of children/youth as a key goal area in their community’s long-range plan.

Coalitions are successful only if a diverse group of key community stakeholders are involved, as shown in the Early Childhood Coalition Wheel.

There are now 64 Early Childhood Coalitions across greater MN.

• Opportunities for fathers or significant male role models to be more involved in the lives of their child(ren).
• Activities, events and planning to improve the transition for children into kindergarten.
• Development of a website.

• The Ready. Set. Go. The Sequel training was provided to 67 child care providers and early childhood educators to increase awareness of literacy strategies that will prepare young children for kindergarten.
• The Fatherhood Involvement team continues to promote the Fathers Read Every Day (FRED) Program, has updated and distributed copies of The Daddy Book, and they are developing a class to be provided to expectant fathers called Daddy Boot Camp.

• Reading and early literacy experiences for young children.
• Opportunities for child care providers to feel appreciated, network and build relationships with one another.
• Advocacy for the young children in the community.

• Hosted a “Celebrate the Fun of Reading” event which was attended by over 160 community members.
• Hosted a candidate forum focused on education and had 100% participation from local candidates.

• Early childhood resource directory
• Expanded preschool and early childhood opportunities with no waiting lists.
• Awareness of early childhood and day care issues, opportunities and successes.

• Continued circulation of Curriculum Boxes to enhance childcare providers’ daily curriculum.
• Updating their community resource directory.

• Parent education and awareness regarding a child’s learning success and further education.
• Mental health services for families.
• Opportunities for preschool and other early childhood experiences.

• Held three Jump Start to School workshops that attracted over 100 attendees, geared to child care providers and focused on literacy, music, movement and science.
• Providing support and parenting education to area teen mothers.

• Improvements to the coalition website to include resources available in the immediate community and beyond.
• Parent support and education beyond the age of one year.
• Indoor / drop-in recreation for families with young children.

• Provided book tubs to 11 local waiting rooms to promote families reading together.
• Summer concert-in-the-park series.

• Indoor play space available for families of young children.
• Literacy and books in every home.
• Awareness of programs and services for young children and their families.

• “Six More Weeks of Winter” promotion to encourage families with young children to use the designated indoor play spaces.
• Created 18 book bags containing over 144 books for use by area child care providers. The coalition is checking with providers who may be interested in using the bags, which were sewn by local middle school students and embroidered by a local business.

• Indoor play space/resource center.
• Increase awareness of kindergarten expectations in the community.
• Creation of a child care providers association.

• Hosted a series of Run and Read programs. Children were able to have a safe place to play indoors during the winter while parents met and received some education about early literacy.
• Developed a Childcare Providers Association.

• Awareness of, accessibility to, and use of early care and education programs, facilities and resources in our area.
• Support public policy for young children and their families. Become effective advocates for early care and education funding, programs and facilities at the local, state and national levels.
• Activities to promote literacy and school readiness so that our youngest citizens enter school ready to learn and succeed.

• Held 4th Annual Early Childhood Fair, with at 375 kids attending (330 were age 6 or younger) along with 260 parents/caregivers.
• Hosting “The Kids Connection” a twice-monthly radio show to promote healthy parenting and inform families of local family-friendly events.

• Better access to parenting resources to ensure all parents are well informed and can create the best environment for their children.
• Access to quality and affordable child care so all children have equal opportunities.
• Coordinated efforts in the community to increase awareness of programs and opportunities to invest in early childhood.

• Implemented Llama, Llama Read-A-Rama Program to promote literacy at a young age.
• Worked with a local designer to develop Parent Tool Kiosks which will be placed at various locations around the community to provide useful information for parenting and skill development for children birth to five-years-old.

• Affordable and accessible preschool for everyone.
• Prevention and reduction of early childhood obesity.
• Development of a Resource Directory.

• Implementing “Movin’ and Groovin’” classes to stress teach health and wellness skills to young children and their families.
• Developed an online resource directory.

• Integrate medical and mental health, school and childcare services in a family centered manner.
• Create a grassroots movement to make early childhood mental health funding a priority with policy makers.
• Ensure that every parent and every expectant parent understands the importance of healthy social and emotional development and has access to community based resources.
• Increase the number and enhance the skills of mental health providers and other professional working with young children.
• Increase early childhood mental health education and resources for child care providers.

• Developed a Professional Learning Community which brings professionals together from St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud Technical College and from the mental health and early childhood community.
• Provided training for childcare providers about the social and emotional needs of the young children they care for.