Monthly Report

June 2008

Early Childhood Mental Health

  • This committee plans to pursue funding from the Ann E. Casey Foundation for its Mental Health Consultation program.
  • The committee is still seeking input for a fall speaker for the Early Childhood Mental Health Speaker Series.
  • The Central Regional Key now has an Infant Mental Health Consultant, Lori Kahler-Brown. She will be providing services for child care providers in the Central Region. Anyone interested in contacting her should call (800) 346-3020 Ext. 9731.

Parenting & Literacy

  • The Parenting and Literacy committee is working hard to distribute the new Pre-K calendar. They are in their first phase of distribution to child care providers. If any child care provider has not been contacted, please call the Smart Start Office at 238-0331.

Early Care & Education

  • The ECE Transition Team met to review the goals for the coming year and identified some additional areas of focus:
    1. Getting more parents and teachers to serve on the committee and enhancing cultural diversity within the committee.
    2. Presenting to each school board and PTO leadership group at least once during the year.
    3. To continue to work on projects within the subcommittees.

Communications & Public Advocacy

  • The Communications and Advocacy committee has coordinated advocacy efforts in order to gain support for the ECE allocations of the Governor's budget. These efforts included communication with legislators (300 pieces of correspondence), 11 visits with legislators, and 4 letters to the editor. The committee focused on reaching Centre County’s State Senators, Jake Corman and John Wozniak, and Representatives, Kerry Benninghoff, Scott Conklin, Mike Hanna.

What Else

  • The Summer newsletter will be featured exclusively on the website for the first time.
  • Harriet Dichter, Deputy Secretary for the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, is coming to Celebration Hall on July 18 from 1:00pm-3:00 pm. All interested community members are encouraged to attend and give input. Please RSVP by July 14, 2008 to Sherry McKinney at 800-346-3020.
  • The Smart Start Office will be moving this summer. We will be moving to an office within Child Development and Family Council’s building.
  • Smart Start has a BLOG on the CDT newspaper website. We are using the BLOG to post ideas, opinions, and upcoming events of interest to the community. Please visit by going to www.centredaily.com. Then choose COMMUNITY, OPINION, and finally BLOGS. Scroll down until you see the Smart Start logo.