Monthly Report

September 2007

The ECMH committee is pleased to announce the "Circle of Security" workshop presented by Dr. Robert Marvin for the 2007 Speaker Series was a success. Approximately 78 people were in attendance for the workshop. In addition, the workshop presented by Dr.Scott and Julie Gest was also successful with 30 people in attendance.
It has come to the committee’s attention that there may be funding available at the state level for the Mental Health Consultation. More information will follow.

The Parenting & Literacy committee is in the final stages of distribution of the "Transition to Kindergarten" calendars focusing particularly on pediatricians and public access facilities. The committee is also diligently recording distribution information to compile a distribution list to enable easier reporting at the end of the fiscal year and next year for new calendar distribution.
A subcommittee has been formed to update and revise the Family Resource Guide. The subcommittee met and submitted updated information. Members of this committee are working on finding out more particular information for further updates.
This committee is also working on honoring Dr. Hufford for his commitment to literacy efforts by presenting him with a certificate of appreciation and submitting a photo of this presentation to the Centre Daily Times.

The subcommittees of the Early Care & Education committee have continued working on their ambitious projects and goals. The child-to-school sub-committee has picked a possible date and location for their "Pre-Kindergarten Round-Up" event. The event has a tentative date of February 9, 2008 at the Nittany Mall from approximately 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The family-to-school sub-committee has compiled a draft of its "Transition Activities Survey" and plan to distribute it to current kindergarten parents this fall. The school-to-school sub-committee has assembled its "Getting to Know Your Child" checklist with plans to distribute it in 2008 and post it on Smart Start’s website. The community-to-all sub-committee has been working on collecting data in order to put together quarterly information regarding important dates of the different school districts in Centre County. This will also be posted on the Smart Start Website.
Three of the Pre-K Counts grant recipients will be hosting our state legislators and other supporters of ECE for a ribbon cutting ceremony the morning of October 11, 2007. See calendar section.

The Health and Nutrition committee participated in “Kids Day” in both State College and Bellefonte where a craft was made of healthy and unhealthy food choices. Super Suppers, a local business partnered with Smart Start, was also involved in providing healthy foods and recipes.

The date for the “Red Carpet Appreciation Event” celebrating the passage of the Governor’s ECE budget has been set for October 11, 2007. Many legislators, business leaders, community leaders, and local school district faculty have been invited to attend. Smart Start will be honoring the contributions of Harriet Dichter, Deputy Secretary of OCDEL and our state representatives. The event will include tours of three child care facilities that received funding from the Pre-K Counts grant with a luncheon following at the PACCA conference that will be held at the Penn Stater.

Smart Start is pleased to introduce our new administrative assistant, Emily Salerno, and our new interns, Jeff Clippinger and Brittany Spencer all of whom are currently attending Penn State. Emily is a first year graduate student in Elementary School Counseling. Jeff is a senior Accounting major. Brittany is a senior Communications major.