Family Connect Update:
What We're Up To Lately
We had the first Parent Café last Monday in our five-part Parent Café series, and it was awesome! I was really pleased with the turnout, and I heard tons of great conversations parents and caregivers were having around the topic of Pandemic Parenting. The feedback I heard from participants who attended was that they felt really connected and empowered after the event, which is awesome! If you'd like to participate in the next Parent Café on April 28th, you can sign up using this link! More details are below in the section on upcoming events!
The Gratiot-Isabella Great Start Collaborative/ Family Connect are working on a project along with a bunch of other community organizations called Coordinated Enrollment and Eligibility, which will make it way easier for families to get hooked up with services in the community in a more streamlined manner. Often various organizations don't really know what the other ones are doing or what the eligibility requirements are for services, which can be really frustrating for families.
The CEE project is continuous work to improve our 0-5 early childhood system in order to make it easily accessible, easy to navigate, and includes a relationship-based component to it.
It's very important for us to understand what experiences people are having within this system, whether you are receiving services OR providing services.
If you receive services such as home visits, food assistance, cash assistance, counseling, therapy, preschool, daycare, WIC, educational classes, or you have involvement with CPS or Friend of the Court, please help us out by filling out this Caregiver Survey!
If you work or volunteer for an organization that provides any of these services, or you refer people to one of these organizations in a professional capacity, please fill out this Provider Survey!
Thank you so much to everyone who fills out one of these surveys! This helps us gather the information we need to make sure our CEE project is awesome and helps make people's lives easier!
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, April 19th, 10 AM-12 PM: Great Start Collaborative Board Meeting. After the Family Connect meeting, the full Great Start Collaborative Board gets together to learn more about what's happening in programs that affect families with young kids and work on projects. It's super important for the board to get insights from real families and parents so we can make sure we're focusing our efforts where they're the most valuable. That's where the Family Connect folks come in! And because it's so important to have family representation at the board meetings, we're offering a $30 stipend for any parent or caregiver who attends the board meeting. That meeting is also at Winding Brook Conference Center, right after the Family Connect meeting.
Thursday, April 28, 11 AM- 1 PM: Great Start Parent Café! The topic for the upcoming Parent Café is Balancing Work, Home, Family, and Self. Parent Cafés are safe spaces for parents and caregivers to relax, reflect, and talk about the joys and challenges of raising a family. They're judgement-free zones where we share experiences and resources while learning from one another. We'll also be providing lunch, a reimbursement for any childcare you might have to line up in order to attend, and there will be chances to win gift cards to Walmart and Meijer. And it's all FREE! So if you're interested in participating, just fill out this registration form! We'd love to have you there!
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