To:   Steering Committee Members of Early Success-Right From the Start
  
From:  Karen Schneider, Director
 
 RE:  Minutes of the January 30, 2002 Steering Committee Meeting
 
Attendance:  Karen Schneider, Lisa Stanley, Jamie Bone, Sherry Franklin, Shannon Lindquist, Pam Forbes, Sherry Marks, Charlotte Thompson, Terry Conklin, Stan DeVoir, Brenda Kailing, Liza Ing, Joyce Harmsen, Becky Johnson, Linda Myers, Cindy Maans, Cheryl DePew, Diana Bongard, Julie Vanhala, Trish McHugh, and Cindy Bay-Barron.
 
The meeting was opened with a welcome from Karen Schneider followed by introductions.
  
Item I.    Update:
a.       Enrollment:  Karen Schneider reported that at the present we have 506 children and 398 families enrolled.  We now have this information on our Early Success web page.  Enrollments have dropped some since the holidays.
 
b.       Hiring:  Five Parent Educators have been hired.  Four are full-time and one part-time.  Big Rapids has eight Parent Educators with the addition of Andi Wilson and Teresa Simm, full-time.  Chippewa Hills has six Parent Educators with the addition of Karen Waite, full-time.  Reed City has five Parent Educators with the addition of Cindy Mason, full-time.  Evart has three Parent Educators with the addition of Debra Adsmond, part-time.
 
c.       Stories from the Home Front:  Tishana Blanchard, Parent Educator from Evart, shared that all her families are very happy with the program.  The children are excited when she arrives.  She feels she is really accomplishing something especially with stress factors that all families endure.  The cross training with the different agencies has been very helpful with her high-risk families.  She mentioned a program in the Evart area called “Pathway of Hope” that offers a bed, counseling, and help to troubled or pregnant girls that are between 10 and 18 years of age.  This is a private, locked down facility similar to Eagle Village.
 
Jamie Bone, Parent Educator from Chippewa Hills shared that she now has 22 families enrolled with most of her families having both parents working causing stress with daycare, routines, etc…
She has been able to calm their fears, encourage them, helping them to see that normal development is happening with their children.  With her low functioning families, she feels sometimes she is the cheerleader.  These families would love for her to step in and be the family manager, but she knows this is impossible, but she encourages them to make their own choices.
 
Each Coordinator from each District reported on their last Family Fun Nights:  Sharon Thorp from Evart shared that they had 44 in attendance at their January FFN.  They had an indoor snowball fight using newspaper balls, water colored snow painting, and they made clean mud.  
 
Lou Ann Gregory from Reed City shared that they had 91 in attendance at their January FFN.  Their theme was “Be Their Hero From Age Zero” with a state trooper as a guest speaker.  They had activities concentrating on what parents can do to be their child’s hero. 
 
Diana Bongard from Big Rapids, shared that they had approximately 150 people in attendance at their January FFN.  They divided the children into age groups with a 0-12 month area in the library, toddler area, and a 3-5 and older sibling area.  Activities included file folder games and other active games.  Each family received steps to follow to go to specific areas.  They are receiving a lot of calls to RSVP the day before and the day of the FFN because of all the advertising.  Terry Conklin asked if the transportation service was working okay.  Diana reported that 5 families use the cab service to be transported to and from FFN.  
 
Leona Moreno from Morley Stanwood shared that they had approximately 120 in attendance at their January FFN.  They learned calmness and flexibility through adversity.  When they arrived at Stanwood Elementary an hour and a half before dinner was to be served, there were no cooks.  They phoned the local pizzeria and ordered 15 pizzas and they were delivered on time and were delicious.  They followed with music and movement activities and arts and crafts.  To end the evening, the fire alarm was accidentally set off with no one knowing how to turn it off, so it proceeded to ring for about 10 minutes.  All and all the evening was a success! 
 
Sherry Marks from Chippewa Hills shared that they had 96 in attendance at their January FFN.  Their theme was Winter/Snow.  They made ice cream in a bag and were very glad to have snow to use for this activity.  They also had an area of many different kinds of blocks for building, playing, etc… They had an area of cool whip finger painting, an area where they were making snowman socks, and an area in the gym where there were many ball related activities.     Each Parent Educators had an activity that was open ended for all age groups.  This seems to work out very nicely.  Sherry also mentioned that in April they will be coordinating their FFN with the Barryton Elementary Kindergarten/Preschool Round-up.
 
Item II:    Committee Reports:
a.       Day Care Workgroup-Creative Thinking Workgroup:  Karen Schneider reported that they had a dinner at the Holiday Inn with the daycare people in the area.  Ten days later they met again for dessert.    Main points that came out of the meeting were:
1.     More training in certain areas.
2.     Michigan School Readiness program will be meeting February 25th.  This will be a joint advisory council meeting.
3.     Put into place a comprehensive training program with each agency participating.  Keep these trainings consistent and continual.  A schedule will be posted and parents may also attend.
     
b.       Evaluation Workgroup:  Karen Schneider reported that they are trying to receive Daycare Accreditation for Daycare Centers in our area and the Early On Conference coming up will be a starting point.  Karen has sent out information to the Daycare Centers asking for data with numbers of children ages, etc…  Some centers did not want to participate.
 
c.       Resource and Referral Workgroup:  Sherry Marks reported that they are updating and changing    the “Parent Awareness Packets”.  They have started with page one and decided to keep, throw away, change, update etc… each page.  They will dovetail this with the Resource Referral Directory.  They are trying to make it more user friendly and get it into the hands of parents. 
 
   Media-Program Promotion:
a.      Shirts:  An order form was passed around for each one to order a shirt with the Early Success logo on it.  This will help promote the program.
 
b.      Ads: TV & Radio:  Karen Schneider reported that the radio stations in the area are running an advertisement for our program.  We also have a part of a statewide campaign with “Be their Hero From Age Zero”.  Karen showed a commercial that has been airing on Cable TV stations, CNN, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, and TNT promoting our program.  There has been a very positive response from people hearing and seeing our advertisements. 
 
c.      Website:  Karen Schneider presented the Early Success web page at the meeting showing the each Districts information, enrollments, FFN, Playgroups, RSVP, and general information about the program.
 
Item III:  Special Projects:
a.       Hearing & Vision:  Training for this will be February 5th and 6th.  Each District will be able to do the screening/testing on a monthly basis.  Karen reported that equipment for hearing and vision has been purchased.  She hopes to get the Health Department involved with this.  This is a definite tool in helping kids be ready for preschool/school and will hopefully increase immunization awareness.
 
b.       Dental:  Karen Schneider reported that ASAP-PIE will be paying for dental cleaning and screenings for children from zero to five who reside in Mecosta County.
 
c.       Joint Advisory Curriculum Committee (MSRP):  Next meeting will be April 25th at 5:30 p.m.  April is Month of the Young Child.  We are encouraging them to get involved with the preschool programs.  Ricky Helm from Chicago will be talking about an interactive program for children.
 
d.       Monthly Young Child Activities:  Karen Schneider reported that the downtown businesses in Big Rapids are getting involved with showing kid’s art in their windows.  There will be a parade and various activities promoting this.
 
e.       Early-On Conference:  Cindy Maan reported that this conference will be April 12th at the Holiday Inn in Big Rapids.  This is a free Conference to anyone attending.  Cindy shared that a brochure is being made explaining the different presenters and workshops.  Registration due date is March 12th.  Professionals and parents are invited to attend.  Childcare will be provided.  Some of the speakers will be; Dr. Virginia Nelson, speaking on Cerebral Palsy; Judge LaVail Hull speaking on the guidelines with child abuse, legal guardianship, and power of attorney; Deb Poole of CMU will be speaking about memory implanting.  There will be a number of local speakers covering issues such as autism, introduction to PAT, and government type programs for Special Need Children.
 
f.         Care for Kids:  Karen Schneider reported that funds are available for this program in the MOISD only.  The preference is to put in all the Public Libraries in the area.  Each location has several titles on tender topics for kids ages zero to six that are labeled with “Care for Kids” logo and have their own section in each library.  There are presently eight locations in Mecosta County, including Barryton Public Library, Remus Public Library, Morley/Stanwood Public Library, Mecosta Elementary, contact person Nancy Plum, WISE, and Big Rapids Early Childhood Center.  They hope to have these books in Evart, Chase, Reed City, and Weidman in the near future.
 
 
Item IV:  Other Issues:
a.       New Workgroup-Curriculum Exploration:  Please let Karen Schneider know if you are interested in this workgroup.  They will be looking at different curriculum and will report back to group with any recommendations.
 
 
b.       Other Issues:  Karen Schneider asked each one to please read the information in the packets that they received today, as it is very interesting and informative.  The Home Builder’s Show will be March 15th, 16th, and 17th at FSU.  Early Success will have a booth provided to us free of charge to promote the program.  We will hand out balloons, brochures, and informational packets to interested families. 
 
There will be an ongoing series of “Love and Logic” classes offered in Mecosta County.  These will be six-week sessions and we can sponsor a series.  These sessions will begin in May. 
 
Becky Johnson shared information about SIDS Alliance Conference.  They are offering a free training on April 16th from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p. at the MOISD.
 
Cindy Bay-Barron reported that there will be a Car Seat Clinic on February 16th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Quality Car and Truck Repair, across from Meijers in Big Rapids.  They need volunteers for childcare helpers and “scribes”.  Anyone interested please contact her.
 
Item V:  Adjournment:  This meeting was adjourned at 9:55 a.m.
  
a.       Next Meeting:  The next Steering Committee meeting will be March 27th at the Miller Wing, North, beginning at 8:30 a.m.