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It Takes a Community… Exploring Wallingford’s Early Childhood Experience: Present and Future

It Takes a Community… Exploring Wallingford’s Early Childhood Experience: Present and Future. This event has been made possible through a Community Conversation grant funded by The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, W.E.C.A.R.E., and Department of Youth and Social Services.

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It Takes a Community… Exploring Wallingford’s Early Childhood Experience: Present and Future

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  1. It Takes a Community… Exploring Wallingford’s Early Childhood Experience: Present and Future This event has been made possible through a Community Conversation grant funded by The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, W.E.C.A.R.E., and Department of Youth and Social Services

  2. Results of 2003 Conversation • First Community Conversation • Topic: Child Care and Early Learning • Outcomes • Connecting the dots to existing town programs • Playgroups • School readiness • Educational workshops • Preschool fair

  3. What is Early Childhood? Early childhood (birth to age 8) is a time of great change • By age 3, roughly 85% of the brain’s core structure is formed (Bruner, Goldberg, and Kot,1999) • Children rapidly develop • Language • Physical development • Social and emotional skills • Their understanding of the world around them

  4. Economics of Early Childhood • What are the costs in Wallingford? • Child care centers • $250-$330 a week for full time care • Sliding scale at some centers • Private Preschool • $$average cost (give as a range)

  5. Research on Early Childhood • Children receiving quality early care have: • Better performance in school • Improved jobs and earnings prospects • Less risk of jail time • Less use of social service programs • Overall better health (Parlakian, 2002 and Farrell, 2002)

  6. Research on Early Childhood • Special needs children • Early intervention is more effective (Shonkoff & Phillips, Eds., 2000) • ESL • Disparity in reading and math scores • Lower graduation rate in Hispanics • Children benefit from early childhood education (Laosa & Ainsworth, 2007)

  7. What does Wallingford look like? • Economic profile of the town • Median Household Income $69,216 (2010) • 6.4% poverty rate (2009) • Housing Information • $250,000 (2009) Median House Sale Price • 974 households in subsidized housing (2008) Source: Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC)

  8. What does Wallingford look like? • CERC 2010 population data

  9. Approaches to Early Childhood Experiences (Birth to Age 5) • Children at home with a parent • Children are with family, friends, & neighbors • Children enrolled in childcare

  10. Approach A: Child is at Home • Requires a stay-at-home parent • No out-of-pocket childcare expenses • What resources do you use as a stay-at-home parent? What needs aren’t being met?

  11. Approach B: Family, Friends, and Neighbors (FFN) • Child is with a family, friend or neighbor • May be in own home • May be in FFN home • May or may not have out-of-pocket expenses • What resources do FFN caregivers utilize? What needs aren’t being met?

  12. Approach C: Enrolled in Childcare • Must have for working parents • May be part-time or full-time • Childcare center or home-based childcare • What resources do parents of children enrolled in childcare use? What needs aren’t being met?

  13. What do we wish to accomplish? • Begin a productive and engaging dialogue among people with different ideas on how to create quality early childhood experiences in Wallingford for all children • Continue to build on the success of the first Conversation

  14. Our Sincere Thanks • To all of you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to help us improve the early childhood experience for the children of Wallingford • Our thanks to: • The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund • W.E.C.A.R.E. • Department of Youth and Social Services

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