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Welcome Home Baby
Trinity Clemens knew this would be a special Mother's Day. It was her first as a mom; her son Zion was born just four days earlier. To make it even more special, Trinity received a visit from a Welcome Home Baby nurse.
"She was very encouraging. She shared with me that she had little ones and she understood. She answered all of our questions," Clemens said of the nurse. "It was awesome!"
 | The Clemens family
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Welcome Home Baby is a new "gateway" program developed by First Steps in collaboration with the Great Start Collaborative, the major hospital systems, the Kent Intermediate School District, Kent County government and numerous human service agencies. It is the gateway for families of newborns to access early childhood services in Kent County.
"Parents are their child's first and most influential teachers," said Rebekah Fennell, First Steps Executive Director. "Welcome Home Baby provides parents with the support, information and tools they need to give their child a great start in life. A strong early foundation ultimately leads to greater success in school and beyond."
Welcome Home Baby is available to ALL first-time parents and parents 25 and younger in Kent County, at no cost to families. New parents are introduced to Welcome Home Baby in the hospital, where they are offered a home visit from a maternal child nurse a few days later.
During the home visit, the nurse checks on the health of the baby and mother; shares information about parenting and child health, development, and safety; makes sure the baby has a first appointment at his or her medical home (pediatrician or family doctor); delivers a gift bag full of information and equipment, including a DVD with tips to help soothe a baby, a thermometer, and a children's book from the local library; and connects families to helpful services, if needed and desired.
"Kent County is blessed with wonderful programs for young children and their families," said Sue Jandernoa, member of the First Steps Commission. "Unfortunately, prior to Welcome Home Baby, many parents were unfamiliar with the services that are available and didn't connect to them. It is inspiring to see how service providers and health systems have come together to create a universal and consistent system to support our community's most valuable resource--our youngest children."
More than 90% of Welcome Home Baby clients request a referral to one or more community services. Clemens and her husband signed up for Connections, a program that provides developmental information to parents during the first five years of their child's life.
"I'm excited for that. It will help us know what to expect when he gets older," Clemens said.
"After being released from the hospital and settling at home, we still had questions in regard to caring for Zion. The questions were answered during our visit with the Welcome Home Baby nurse which left us feeling confident and excited about our new role as Zion's parents."
Please click on the links to learn more about Welcome Home Baby or to download a Welcome Home Baby Book, which provides parents with information regarding their child's development, health and safety.
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News & Updates
4,000 early childhood supporters rally at State Capitol
 | | Star Power parade approaching the Capitol |
Kent County parents, children and early childhood advocates joined thousands of others at the state capitol on May 19 for the 5th annual Star Power -- the largest Star Power since the event began in 2007. Star Power provides an opportunity to talk with local legislators about the importance of investing in early childhood. Star Power is sponsored by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation and paid for with private funding.
Kent County parent Jennifer Rees won the "Fierce Heart" award, given annually to a parent whose advocacy is improving the lives of young children in her community and across the state. Jen has been an active member of the Great Start Parent Coalition since the beginning. "It is hard to measure the impact of advocacy sometimes. I am standing on the shoulders of giants, and I always maintain hope that someone will be able to build on what we are doing today," Jen said.
 | | Jennifer Rees receiving Fierce Heart award |
Wayne County launches Children's Healthcare Access Program; modeled after successful Kent County project  The Children's Healthcare Access Program (CHAP) is proving to be an innovative and effective approach to improve the health of low-income children in Kent County. Now the largest county in Michigan is replicating the model. Wayne County (Detroit) launched its own CHAP project earlier this month, after receiving a $1 million grant from the Kresge Foundation. For the last year, the CHAP team in Kent County has provided technical assistance and support to colleagues in Wayne County, as well as in Kalamazoo and Shiawassee Counties, where there also is interest in replicating the CHAP model.
The Kent County CHAP project started in 2008. Early outcomes are encouraging, including a 14% drop in emergency department usage and a 14% decline in inpatient hospital admissions since the baseline year. Please click on the links to read more about Kent CHAP and Wayne CHAP.
Name changes; volunteers sought There are two new names to learn. Michigan Family Resources is now known as Head Start for Kent County. See the article below "Preparing children for school and life success" to learn more about Head Start. Family Futures is the new name for the Child and Family Resource Council. Additionally, Family Futures is seeking Healthy Start Family Support Volunteers who can connect with parents of infants across Kent County for two hours each week. Volunteers should have knowledge and/or experience in parenting and child development. Contact Lucy at 855-5476 or ljoswick@familyfutures.net for more information.  
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Preschool: Key to preparing children for
school and life success
This school year may be winding down, but Kent County's largest preschool programs already are busy preparing for next year. Now is the time when young children enroll for the fall.
Kent County has two publicly funded preschool programs: Head Start, a national program started by the federal government in 1965, and the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP), a statewide program begun 25 years ago.
"Programs like this are critical to help children establish a positive school experience right from the beginning and a strong foundation for success," explained Erin McGovern, Kent Intermediate School District Early Childhood Coordinator. "Children get the benefit of a really high quality preschool program prior to entering kindergarten."
In addition to providing a quality preschool education, both Head Start and GSRP place a heavy emphasis on family involvement and parent education.
"When parents are in the classroom, they are learning about child development and watching our staff role model how to handle various situations," Mary Hockwalt, Executive Director of Head Start for Kent County, said. "It sets the foundation for parents to be involved in their child's education, and the children are proud to have them there."
In Kent County, Head Start is available annually to 1,631 three- and four-year-old children whose families meet the income eligibility criteria of living at or below the federal poverty level -- $22,350 for a family of four.
1,656 four-year-old children in Kent County are enrolled in GSRP. Most of the classrooms are operated by public schools, with a smaller number run by private non-profit organizations. GSRP serves children who may be "at risk" for struggling in school, based on criteria set by the state. Research on both school readiness programs shows that they lead to significant short-term and long-term benefits. In addition to boosting children's cognitive or academic skills, quality preschool helps children develop critical life skills, the benefits of which last well into adulthood. "It's hard to separate the development of social emotional skills, such as problem solving, with the development of early literacy and math skills. If it's done well, it all happens at the same time," Hockwalt explained. "The social emotional skills benefit children in all aspects of their life, whether they are in school or out." Head Start and GSRP work together to serve as many children in the community as possible, but both are limited by a lack of funding. An analysis by the Community Research Institute at Grand Valley State University found that approximately 1,400 four year olds who would qualify for one of the publicly funded preschools are not able to attend because there are not enough spaces available. That's more than 35% of eligible children. "Now that we are at a point where people understand the critical importance of quality preschool, we need to continue to put resources into it so that we can serve all of the children who are eligible and would benefit," McGovern said. "We know it works." |
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Sincerely,
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Did You Know? 22% of Kent County kindergartners--1500 children--are "at risk" for needing supplemental services to be successful readers by 3rd grade. (This is based on an assessment of the language & literacy skills of entering kindergarteners). That same assessment found significant gaps in the scores of white children compared to children of color. | Source: Kent Intermediate School District and First Steps
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Contact us:
Amy Turner-Thole
Communications Director
616-632-1003
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