About Children First
In 1994, the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund (GMF) began their monumental project for the children of Connecticut called Children First Initiative. They asked seven towns, including Norwich, to come up with ways to improve local conditions for children and families in their communities. The city of Norwich, through the Board of Education, and the non-profit organization United Community & Family Services stepped up to the plate and created the Children First Initiative for Norwich.
In the early years of implementation, focus groups were established to determine the needs of the parents and community members. The focus groups identified two major concerns related to child welfare issues: the need for additional childcare facilities, and inadequate transportation for working parents, particularly those working second and third shifts at the casinos. Norwich Children First Initiative (CFI) decided to focus on expanding the City’s childcare resources.
In 1997, Norwich and the City of Groton jointly applied for School Readiness funding. They were each awarded $100,000 to implement their plan to improve school readiness for young children. In order to comply with grant requirements, the communities created a group of community members to over see the grant process. This was called the School Readiness Council. Since the goals of the Children First Initiative and the School Readiness Program were similar, Norwich combined their Norwich Children First Initiative Collaborative with interested School Readiness community members, and created the Norwich Children First Initiative/School Readiness Council.
In 2000, The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund (GMF) increased their support of local community efforts on behalf of children. Forty-nine towns were invited to participate in the GMF Discovery Initiative. GMF had communities choose from four goals addressing early care and education in their communities. Norwich chose to address all four goals with particular focus on expanding the supply of quality early education and improving the quality of existing early education in the community.
In 2005, the State Department dramatically increased the School Readiness funding for Norwich. Five childcare programs, serving 174 children, are currently involved in the School Readiness Grant program.
In 2006, it became obvious to members of the Norwich Children First and School Readiness councils that their work was so inter-connected it would be more efficient to combine their efforts on behalf of children and families in Norwich. The Children First Norwich/School Readiness Council was formed. It is this entity that continues to set the agenda for and move forward to address the issues and concerns on behalf of the children and families of Norwich. There are now four signatories for Children First Norwich - The City of Norwich, Norwich Public School System, United Community & Family Services (UCFS), and Thames Valley Council for Community Action Early Care and Education.
If you are interested in participating in the activities of the Children First Norwich/School Readiness Council, please contact us. Council meetings are every third Wednesday of the month, beginning at 9:00AM at the Community Room of the Dime Savings Bank located on Salem Turnpike (next to the “Big Y” Super Market).
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