Killingly, Plainfield & Putnam Discovery Program Awarded Grant by William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund

Killingly, Plainfield & Putnam, Conn. (January 22, 2013) — The Killingly, Plainfield and Putnam Discovery Collaborative, The Northeast School Readiness Council, announced grant support for direct early childhood project support and connection to Discovery. Discovery grants are funded by the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, the Children’s Fund of Connecticut, and the Connecticut State Department of Education.  This grant will help to ensure all children in the Northeast, regardless of race and income level, are ready for school by age five and prepared to be successful learners by age nine.

“Our Mission is to support and sustain effective and efficient programs and policies to address early care and education, social, emotional & physical health and family supports to ensure that all children birth through age 8 who reside in the Northeast are Healthy, Safe, and Successful Learners.”

The goal of Discovery is to create an early childhood system that ensures optimal healthy development leading to early learning success for Connecticut children of all races and income levels. Discovery supports communities in establishing collaborative structures in which parents are full partners.  Each community creates and implements its own community plan. Advocates and other stakeholders work to improve policy and practice at the local and state levels. Across Connecticut, 52 communities focus on improving the quality of and access to early care and education for children from birth through age five, improving the quality of PreK-3 education in ways that increase early language and literacy development among all children, improving young children’s health and social/emotional development, and increasing local and statewide capacity to measure and continue improvements.

The Killingly, Plainfield and Putnam Discovery Program launched in 2001, serves as a local resource for children from birth to age eight and their families. Killingly, Plainfield and Putnam Discovery seeks to engage parents in their child’s early childhood education – birth through age eight, and in taking leadership roles within the community on behalf of all children.

These three communities have a longstanding history of working as a region. In 2010, The Northeast School Readiness Council applied for a Discovery grant to create one community plan to improve conditions for Killingly, Plainfield and Putnam’s young children and families.  Members from all sectors of these communities participated to share input, research and evaluate relevant data, and develop strategies to begin creating positive change.

In January 2013, the Northeast School Readiness Council received additional funding to begin implementing the strategies outlined in the Community Plan.  This Plan, written by these communities and for these communities, will serve as the blueprint for change.  ALL community members are welcome to participate in this ongoing initiative.  To learn more, please contact Regional Coordinator, Christine Rosati @ cgrosati@msn.com or 860-779-6770.

“Discovery communities are building on their own local resources to develop an early childhood system that reflects the needs and values of the community,” said David M. Nee, Executive Director, William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.  “We are pleased to support local collaborative councils, along with our state partners, with both funding and training, so that children of all races and income levels can become successful learners.”

“For children to succeed in school, attention to their health and social-emotional development beginning at birth, is essential,” said Judith Meyers, President and CEO of the Children’s Fund of Connecticut and its nonprofit subsidiary the Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI). “We are pleased to help community collaboratives address early child health in all aspects of their work and engage health providers along with others to optimize the chances for children’s success in school and in life.”

Grants from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund to Discovery communities across the state are made possible by partnerships with the State Department of Education, Children’s Fund of Connecticut, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Connecticut Center for School Change.

William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund’s Discovery initiative offers grants and capacity building to 52 communities and six statewide partners. Capacity building is currently available in the areas of collaboration, parent engagement, results-based accountability, community planning and decision-making, and facilitative leadership. To learn more, visit: http://discovery.wcgmf.org.

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About the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund

The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund works collaboratively to improve education for Connecticut’s children by strengthening the involvement of parents and the community in education, promoting school change and informing the public debate on educational issues.