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Conversations About Education expanded in 2000 to include
the critical issues around child care and early learning. As the nation’s
attention turns more and more to the needs and early learning experiences
of children from birth to 8, the Conversations Project has enthusiastically
agreed to focus attention on these issues. School readiness, the quality
of child care, and the cost and amount of available spaces, have been
some of the recurring themes at these conversations.
A Danbury Children First staffer explained why the Early
Learning conversation worked so well in her city. “Being heard gives
people an empowering and important sense of belonging in the community,
which can make Danbury a better place,” said Linda Kosko,
the Director of Danbury’s Children First.
Listening to others’ points of view and diverse opinions
is one of the hallmarks of the conversation project. A trained recorder,
using large f lip charts, captures everything that is said. As each page
fills up it is posted around the room visually showing the conversation
grow: evidence that people are being heard. The discussion sheets are
used to compile a report. At the end of the event a survey is taken to
determine what worked well and how the conversation could be improved.
All this data is included in a report, which is shared with all the participants,
the board of education and the local government.
Every Early Learning conversation has taken a further step
after the conversation. In historic Tolland, the majority of participants
asked to continue their involvement. “We’ve established a network
of volunteers to help advance some of the ideas, including evening socials
for working families,” wrote Dawn Levasseur, director of the local
Family Resource Center. She also reported that the attendance of child
care providers at professional development workshops increased. Tolland
held their conversation about child care in spring 2002. They have organized
four evening events for families and children for this year and held a
follow-up conversation
in October 2002.
Stonington has significantly increased the number
of available spaces for child care. They were in crisis after a major
child care program closed. A child care director from the YMCA in neighboring
Rhode Island attended their conversation and reported that listening to
parents persuaded him to open a Connecticut branch in Stonington. The
local Head Start program also agreed to fund and train parents to run
new home-based child care programs. A Mystic business approved a private
program, bringing the total of new slots up to their planning committee’s
goal of 100.
Each conversation attracts community leaders. We have seen
the planning groups make a concerted effort to reach those who never appear
at town meetings. New Britain was so determined to make some of
the Spanish-speaking newcomers feel at ease that they held a small child
care discussion in Spanish. The lively group requested that they be kept
informed of future events so they could continue to be involved.
Leaders in the field of early childhood education find that
it is often challenging to interest the larger community in these issues.
Parents and providers of care to pre-schoolers tend to talk to each other
without the involvement of the larger community. Bristol’s
School Readiness Council, in collaboration with United Way, decided to
follow their conversation with a concentrated effort on broadening support
for young children. Bristol is in the midst of holding small conversations
about the issues around early care and learning with targeted groups.
They plan to hold a business breakfast with area employers. They will
go into the greater Bristol area to hold conversations at senior centers,
low/moderate income housing projects and monthly clergy meetings. To make
a family day conversation for parents and grandparents more enticing,
they are planning a puppet show to entertain the children during the adults’
conversation. The planning committee will meet with local elected officials
and share some of the information they have learned. Once they have raised
the awareness of all these constituent groups, they plan to hold a community-wide
conversation about child care and early learning and invite 100 representatives
from all these groups.
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