http://buildingbrightfutures.org/chittenden/about/
March 22, 2016

We believe all children should have the best start in life.

How do you educate yourself when working with a child/family/staff from a different background than yourself?

What are the steps you take to be aware of how bias influences your hiring, professional development and promotion of staff, and creation and implementation of policies and procedure?

What policies do we have in place in Vermont that give kids 0-5 equitable access to high quality early care and education programs? How do we know if they are working?

These were some of the prompts discussed in the session on Equity in Vermont's Early Childhood System  I co-convened with colleagues involved in Vermont's Early Childhood Equity Work Group at the Vermont Early Childhood Day at the Legislature on March 9th. 
Supported by my work with BUILD's Equity Leader Action Network, I am eager to identify if a
nd how we are applying an equity lens in our work to improve the early childhood system across Vermont. 

What is an equity lens and what does it look like when applied? Check out how the Center for the Study of Social Policy defines their anti-racist agenda. You can also stay connected with equity issues affecting early childhood through this facebook page.

-Beth Truzansky, Building Bright Futures Chittenden Regional Coordinator, [email protected]
Bhutanese-Nepali Cultural Orientation for Home Visitors
Chittenden Building Bright Futures hosted a workshop with 
Rohit Adhikari of the Vermont Family Network. Rohit shared his experience with the Bhutanese-Nepali community to support home visitors provide more culturally-responsive care.
  
Materials from his presentation and resources to learn about culture and history of clients coming from a different background than your own are linked here.
VNA Family Room
VNA Family Room
The VNA Family Room is a Parent Child Center in Burlington's Old North End that offers supports to families and children ages birth to age 6. The Center is known for creating a welcoming and inclusive learning space attracting diverse families across Chittenden County. The Family room is undergoing a transition in funding and organizational home. Following the loss of a Federal grant last Fall, families have organized and successfully raised $80,000 to reinstate staffing core to Family Room Programming. A Sustainablity Taskforce is also convening to support the long-term sustainability. The Taskforce will do its work between March and May and is composed of parents, staff and organization partners invested in its continued success.
 
The Statewide Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data have been released by the Vermont Department of Health.  The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is administered at school every other year to students in grades six through 12, and details the prevalence of a wide range of behaviors that affect health - from smoking, drinking and drug use, to physical activity, nutrition and weight, to violence and mental health status. More than 21,000 high school students and 13,600 middle school students participated in the latest survey, conducted during February and March 2015. Here are some highlights:
  • In 2013, nearly 60 percent of high school students reported ever drinking alcohol. In 2015, that figure dropped to 56
  • more high school students used marijuana (22%) in the past 30 days than smoked cigarettes (11%). percent
  • 48% of middle school students think kids their age risk great harm from having five or more drinks once or twice each weekend, a significant decrease from 51
  • 14% of high school students are overweight, significantly down from 16% in 2013
Link to the full report here.  
For your Calendar: 
Chittenden Council meets the first Thursday of the month. The next Council meeting will be Thursday, April 7 from 5-7pm at Howard Center, 1138 Pine Street. All are welcome.

Notes from the March 3 meeting about how we support childrens' transition into Kindergarten are captured here.
Regional Networks and Building Bright Futures (BBF)

Chittenden BBF Council is one of 12 Councils State-wide
working to improve access, quality, and affordability of early care, health, and education for families and young children 0-8Link
Project LAUNCH
Quick Links

Let's Grow Kids

VT Early Childhood Alliance

Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant

U.S. Office of Early Childhood Development

Diversitydatakids.org

CLASP

ZERO TO THREE

BUILD Initiative

Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University

American Academy of Pediatrics

U.S. Office of Head Start

SAMHSA's LAUNCH Website

 Alliance For Early Success   

Childtrends