Connecting Families with the Community
When a child is enrolled in an early childhood education program, it is often their first community outside the home and is very influential in children’s development. Community involvement and engagement produce long-term benefits in the lives of children. It gives them a sense of belonging and is crucial to building their identity.
The Bakken Museum visits our Hubbs Center to explore electricity with a song, game and experiment with circuits specially designed to help young learners make connections of their own.
YWCA Minneapolis Early Childhood Education Program connects families with needed resources that further children’s health, development and learning. Each center is there to support every family. Although each family has different needs, all five centers can provide families access to extensive resources of various child and family support services available in the community. We connect families with resources on basic needs such as child care subsidies, service providers for health, nutrition, child welfare, parenting programs, early intervention, special education screening/assessment services, and culturally or linguistically specialized services.
Besides referrals, center leadership team often finds ways to bring various resources to the center unique to the needs of the families. Through constant and consistent communication with families, center leadership team can understand the different needs of the families. One of the most requested by families is health services.
Ready, Set, Smile
A partnership with Ready, Set, Smile Dentistry and Education helps those who do not have regular dental checkups or have never seen the dentist through free on-site dental treatment and health education.
The South Minneapolis center hosts Ready, Set, Smile twice a year so the children can receive oral health education, preventive dental services, as well as atraumatic procedures to control dental decay.
Rasmussen University
Health and wellness education is as critical to a child’s learning ability as any other development area. Children become more independent and increasingly responsible for their choices and decisions as they grow. Rasmussen University has supported this program goal through health education classes on the importance of handwashing and nutrition taught by nursing students.
Midtown Global Market
Collaborating with various organizations in events promoting cultural diversity, such as Midtown Global Market, has provided families with free activities beyond the center walls and hours. Families have been able to participate in various multicultural celebrations throughout the year.
YWCA Minneapolis Early Childhood Education Program has established various partnerships with agencies, institutions and organizations to help provide resources to support the program’s curriculum and quality of care. All centers participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program from the United States Department of Agriculture, which helps provide nutritious meals and snacks for the children. Partnership with the Diaper Bank of Minnesota has helped provide diapers for infants and toddlers. With the support of PNC Bank, our preschool curriculum has been enhanced by adding special science programs, field trips and materials.
Our PNC Grow Up Great partnership helps provide pre-K classrooms with experiences, like field trips to the Science Museum of Minnesota, to inspire students’ love of learning.
It takes a village to raise a child.
In line with our mission, each center strives to connect families with the community to empower them and eliminate the educational opportunity gap in our state for families from all races, ethnicities, cultures and incomes.