Torrington Early Childhood Collaborative
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
9/11/09
In Attendance: Sue Vivian, Lucille Fines, Karla Woodworth, Cheryl Kloczko, Elaine Hanscom, Donna Labbe, Brandy Grant, Heather Kosmulski, Cindy Guerrini, Doreen Deary, Mary Cecchinato
Called to Order by Heather Kosmulski 12:42pm.
Minutes from last meeting were approved as printed.
Grants :
People Empowering People PEP Will have 2 classes in Fall 09.
Regional Grant - NW CT Community College Fall ’09 class is the last semester fully funded by grant, college hopes to institutionalize the class. 23 parents signed up, 9 from Torrington. Childcare funds not all used, so there is funding available to run another class in Spring ’10.
Committee Updates:
School Readiness- Budget passed, funding remains the same- $107K coming to Torrington. Evaluation of sites done. 4 hours of curriculum training completed at Hilltop Center, which is a non-school readiness site, to facilitate their use of the State Dept of Ed curriculum. Date needs to be set for next school readiness fair- will discuss at SR committee meeting.
Public Awareness- Working on unveiling event for community plan, doing a short graphic display of results. Using the Warner’s PR avenues to publicize event.
Parent Committee- Clothing Drive at the Amory served approximately 650 this year which is more than last year. Planning a winter coat drive. Torrington Day is September 26th and we will have a table to promote TECC & parent committee activities. Resource guide still in process, goal date for completion is Spring 2010. Heather Blauvelt is a new member of the committee who is pursuing putting TECC info on Facebook. Note on clothing drive- Tables donated to us were dragged across the floor by a cart at the Armory which caused damage to the building floor. Town did not require TECC to pay for damages, but for next year it is important to not use that cart to move items.
Discovery
Need to submit by 9-15-09 letter of interest for which funding option we are applying for.
Option #1: Up to $50K/Year 2 years $25K Cash Match Step Down year 3-5 (10 communities can be funded)
Option #2: Up to $25K/Year 2 years No cash match (20 communities can be funded)
Option #3: Up to $7500/Year Annual (remaining communities can be funded)
Giving transition grants for the Jan-March 2010 period with ¼ of current funding level ($6K+), with new grants starting April 1st 2010.
Fully developed plan is a high ranking in 2 areas out of 6. We did not receive a high ranking in any area.
Jan proposal due for next phase of Discovery funds.
23 communities developed a community plan
7 communities considered fully developed
8 communities were ranked moderately developed of which Torrington is one
How do we find out where other communities are getting more current data?
Leadership Work Group Birth through 8 Plan- Plan unveiling to the public scheduled for Sept 30th. Feedback received on the plan was that we needed more current local data to tell the story and that the language of plan goal “All of Torrington’s children from birth through age 8 are healthy and ready to be successful learners” could be changed to “All of Torrington’s children from birth through age 8 are healthy and successful learners” to reflect a broader age range than birth to age 5. Group discussion revolved around our understanding of what ready to learn means and that it encompasses every age range. Our plan goal is a results statement. Vote passed to leave the language as is and add an explanation of what we mean
by ready to the people who gave us feedback and in the letter of introduction.
$8K of federal money was received by TECC to keep the community plan moving ahead.
Executive
Next Meeting 10/9/09 12:30 to 2:30pm to discuss the community plan and feedback received.
Committee reports to be emailed instead of presented at meeting.
All TECC Meeting 11/13/09 Location TBD
Meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Elaine Hanscom
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