| Promoting Infant + Toddler Development |
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Goal
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To take a citywide lens and engage in innovative action that brings more support to and create opportunities for families with Hartford's youngest children
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Potential Strategies
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- Identify and map the features and milestones that are critical to infant and toddler development, to build shared understanding and inform strategy development
- Conduct a root cause analysis on the barriers, issues, and challenges to mounting a universal developmental screening system
- Design a plan for universal developmental screening for all children birth to age 5, to track growth and increase connections to programming and supports
- Launch a community-wide diaper bank to provide support to vulnerable families on a basic need
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| Positive Mental and Behavioral Health |
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Goal
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To take a citywide lens and engage in innovative action that strengthens positive behavior and mental health supports for children and families
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Potential Strategies
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- Conduct a series of focus groups with parents and caregivers to understand areas of need + opportunities for innovation, to inform the design of mental health supports for families
- Examine the city’s maternal screening data and conduct a series of focus groups with new mothers, local health practitioners, and early educators, to identify patterns, trends, and areas of need, to inform a plan to increase screening for maternal depression
- Design a capacity-building effort for early educators and relevant programming staff, grounded in the Pyramid Model for Promoting the Social and Emotional Competence of Infants and Young Children
- Support the pilot of the Community- Wide Benchmarks of Quality tool to assess feasibility and effectiveness for citywide uptake
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| Cultivating Strong Language + Literacy Environments |
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Goal
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To take a citywide lens and engage in innovative action that strengthens and nurtures the development of children's language and literacy skills
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Potential Strategies
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- Identify and map the features and milestones that are critical to language and literacy development, to build shared understanding and inform strategy development
- Develop a funding +
evaluation plan for a trial period to estimate the efficacy and viability of a community of practice for parents and caregivers of children ages 3-5, designed to build their capacity around high-quality language opportunities and interactions
- Craft a plan to adopt, or retain the expertise to develop a literacy curriculum for the mixed-delivery early education and care system, aligned to HPS K curriculum
- Establish a network of mobile libraries for greater access to books in neighborhoods of need, based on recent data
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| Strengthening the Transition to Kindergarten |
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Goal
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To take a citywide lens and engage in innovative action that increases awareness of and enrollment in Hartford’s kindergarten classrooms
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Potential Strategies
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- Map the causes of delayed kindergarten registration/low kindergarten enrollment to identify barriers and underlying issues inhibiting timely enrollment
- Create an annual calendar of responsibilities for the community to create coordination and increase active engagement and connections
- Examine policies and practices across community-based preschool to create alignment and to promote smooth transitions for children entering school
- Launch a communications-based awareness campaign about the kindergarten transition and registration opportunities
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| Nutrition in Homes and Communities |
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Goal
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To take a citywide lens and engage in innovative action that increases access to healthy foods, and educating for healthier families and communities
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Potential Strategies
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- Map the city’s supports and services that address family food insecurity + healthy eating—and examine gaps and barriers to inform policy and programming
- Chart the landscape of the city’s Farmers Markets to identify opportunities for increasing connections with families around healthy eating
- Design a plan to increase childcare centers’ access across to Little City Sprouts or Mobile Food Pantry
- Create and lead a social marketing campaign geared to parents around the importance of healthy habits, grounded in 5-2-1-0 messaging and resources/tools www.how2fitkids.org/#5-2-1-0
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| Responsive Community Outreach & Engagement |
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Goal
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To take a citywide lens and engage in innovative channeling and amplifying the strategic activity of all working groups, and bring more resources, information, advocacy, and connections to children and families, educators, and caregivers.
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Potential Strategies
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- Conduct a series of focus groups with schools, parents, and caregivers, and local health clinics to identity opportunities for greater access to quality services.
- Create resource hub for active connections and referrals in the early learning and development space.
- Create an online guide/resource (in multiple languages) of the city’s available child care options, with information including neighborhood, opening hours, ability to offer subsidy, and languages spoken by staff.
- Conduct a strategic marketing plan which includes communication to champion about the importance of a child’s early years in the Hartford Community.
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