Kent County’s early childhood collaborative has developed a long-term vision outlining what it will take to have every young child in Kent County enter kindergarten ready to succeed. Click on the link for the Vision for Kent County’s Early Childhood System. (Posted January 2012)
To measure progress toward that vision, we partnered with the Community Research Institute at the Johnson Center at Grand Valley State University to develop a series of community level early childhood indicators. Click on the links for the following documents:
Early Childhood Baseline Indicators, Full Report (Posted November 2011)
Early Childhood Baseline Indicators, Executive Summary (Posted November 2011)
Explanation and Highlights of Early Childhood Indicators (Posted November 2011)
Kent County’s Early Childhood System: A Community Plan also known as Connections for Children, was released in September 2004. It identified the core service areas of the system, outlined the governance structure, identified strategic goals, and recommended increased evaluation and greater quality assurance. Click on the link for the Executive Summary of Connections for Children.
Making Strides: Kent County’s Early Childhood System is the work of broad and diverse planning teams and was released in October 2007. It identifies initial strategies for developing the Early Childhood System. Click on the link for Making Strides.
The Kent County community has a strong history of collaboration and innovation to support children and their families. Click on the link for the History of Kent County’s Early Childhood System. (Posted January 2011)
First Steps works in close partnership with the Great Start Collaborative of Kent County, the Kent County Family & Children’s Coordinating Council, and the Kent Intermediate School District and has Memorandums of Understanding with those organizations.
Click on the link for the MOU between First Steps, Great Start and Kent County Family & Children’s Coordinating Council.
Click on the link for the MOU between First Steps, Great Start and the Kent ISD.