Monthly Report

March 2008

The Early Childhood Mental Health Committee has submitted its grant proposal for $5,000 to the Centre County Community Foundation for the 2008 Speaker Series. Results will be announced in May.
This committee is working with the Prevention Research Center, the Early Development and Education Institute, and Cen-Clear Child Services to bring Dr. Sophie Havighurst back for a 2 day training of "Tuning Into Kids". The training will take place on May 5^th and 6^th from 9:30am-4:30pm at Cen-Clear Child Services, 1633 Philipsburg/Bigler Highway, Philipsburg, PA. For more information contact the Smart Start office.

The Parenting and Literacy Committee has been working diligently on its Pre-K calendar. The final proof of the calendar is being generated. All calendar pages are sponsored, but we are still seeking funding to cover the full production costs from local businesses.
For the "One Book Every Young Child Project" there are about 35 child care centers and homes that will be participating so far. We have also been able to get several legislators to volunteer their time to go out to these centers and read Up, Down, and Around. The author of the book Up, Down, and Around, Katherine Ayers, will do a presentation on April 8th at Easterly Parkway Elementary at 7:00pm, and then again on April 9th at 11:00am at the Schlow library and the public is invited to both of these events. For questions about the One Book project, contact Cindy Perttu at the Smart Start office or at cmp289@psu.edu.

The Child-to-School sub-committee sent the School Readiness DVD to all families who requested it at Smart Start’s public events. This DVD will be distributed to all parents who are interested because it is a useful tool for parents and child care providers.
The Family-to-School sub-committee plans to collect the complete Kindergarten Parent Surveys during the months of April and May. Then the ECE Transition Team will review the survey results during the May meeting.
The School-to-School sub-committee plans to distribute its "Getting to Know Your Child Checklist" at Kindergarten registrations, to the Smart Start network, and at any other Smart Start events. It will also be available on the Smart Start website. This form can be used by parents, caregivers, and child care providers.
The Community-to-All sub-committee has posted the information about Kindergarten Registration through out Centre County on the Smart Start website: www.smartstartcc.org.

This committee has participated in Give Kids a Smile and Vision for the Future. They also plan to have a display at Geisinger’s Health and Safety Fair on April 19 from 9-11am in Philipsburg.

The Communication and Advocacy committee is actively working to promote the governor’s budget for Early Childhood programs and also the Week of the Young Child activities.
The committee also sponsored the Budget Briefing event on April 1 at Toftrees where Harriet Dichter spoke about how the new budget will impact early learning in Centre County and throughout the state of Pennsylvania. She stressed the importance of contacting our local state representatives to express support for public investment in these programs.
This committee has compiled data on Centre County participation in state programs, and these are available for use in advocacy work. Contact Smart Start if you would like to receive this data.

There will be a Children's Art Display at the State College Borough Building and Bellefonte Family Resource Center April 21-May 16 to celebrate the Week of the Young Child. In addition, Anita Ditz from Schlow Library will be doing a public reading of Up, Down, and Around at the State College Borough Building on April 23 at 10:00am.
There are currently 1,250 names scrolling on the PA Promise Website. We would like to get more names from Centre County on the site. If you haven’t already signed on, please do so at www.papromiseforchildren.com.