2009
Events
Wednesday October 21
3:30-6:30pm
Carrboro Farmers' Market
News
Performance Based Incentive System
With recent reporting completed, the Orange County Partnership for Young Children which oversees the Smart Start and More at Four programs, and the more than 15 different agencies and programs it collaborates with, saw a continued increase in the overall quality and scope of its early childhood programs. The Performance Based Incentive System (PBIS) report showed gains in the number of children enrolled in care, and the children that are enrolled, are participating in some of the highest rated childcare programs in the state. The number of all children receiving the highest quality child care has increased by more than a quarter (26%) since 2001, and nearly half of that (10%) was in the last year alone.
Specific gains in early childhood mental health services have seen positive gains with families that deal with the devastating effects of mental illness. The Partnership’s commitment to those children and their families has led to 100% of special needs children being served by only the highest quality childcare facilities.
Efforts to increase professionalism in child care staff have proved successful as well. The administrators of all child care facilities have substantially improved their educational levels, shown by a more than 10% increase in education points in just two years.
Smart Investing
Smart Investing Forum Asks: What do North Carolinians Want for Their Children and the State?
This forum is part of a new public engagement initiative titled Smart Investing: Communities Thrive When Children Thrive to establish what North Carolina communities want for their youngest children and the future of the state. Funded by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and with participation from Lt. Governor Walter Dalton and Smart Start, Smart Investing brings together a diverse mix of citizens to begin a new dialogue about early education and children’s health in North Carolina.
Smart Investing: Communities Thrive When Children Thrive Forum
Delegates from Orange County will participate on the following dates:
Forum- Greensboro – Tuesday, January 12 , 2010 (Location TBD)
Summit- Durham- Tuesday, March 9, 2010 (Location TBD)
Parents, business leaders, health care providers, educators, policy makers, advocates and community leaders representing Orange County will participate.
Smart Investing www.smartinvestingnc.org
Orange County Partnership for Young Children www.orangesmartstart.org
Please contact 919-967-9091 or email officemanager@orangesmartstart.org for more information or information on participating in the Forum or Summit. Smart Start is North Carolina’s early childhood leadership network dedicated to assuring that every child reaches his or her potential and is prepared for success in a global community.
For more information, visit www.ncsmartstart.org.
RFP Information
In ordinary economic times, we would be requesting bids for additional funds that we might expect from the state for 2010-2011. However, given the significant cuts we sustained for the current and past fiscal years, there will be no new RFP. We intend to take any restored or additional funds that are received from the General Assembly and push them forward for the next year, to be allocated to existing programs to attempt to restore those programs to their pre-2009 funding levels.
Orange County Partnership for Young Children sought RFP’s for funded projects for a three year cycle, 2008-2011. We require current Direct Service Providers to submit yearly continuation funding requests during a bid cycle. Please visit this page often as RFP’s may be posted. The next open bid period is expected in the fall of 2010.
National Dine Out America Grant Received
The Partnership has recently secured a $3152.25 from the national Share Our Strength organization. The DineOut America program focuses on providing food so no child goes hungry. The funding will be used to support the Growing Healthy Kids community garden program. The gardens currently serve a majority of low-income families with young children.
Executive Director Margaret Samuels recently attended the Center for Disease Control National Obesity Prevention and Control conference. The event took place in Washinton D.C. and was in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Attended by organizations from across the U.S., the purpose of the conference was to bring attention to and the importance of the obesity epidemic in this country. Ms. Samuels presented information on the Partnerships three Healthy Kids Programs, all of which have shown signs of improving young childrens awareness of a healthy lifestyle.
BCBS of NC Pedometer Grant
Chapel Hill- The Orange County Partnership for Young Children has received a grant for $3,500 from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina(BCBSNC) Foundation. The funding will be used to outfit local child care center teachers with pedometers to better track their physical exercise throughout the day. In cooperation with the Smart Start Child Care Health Consultant, a position out of the Orange County Health Department, 150 pedometers will be handed out with 15-20 different child care centers participating. This project will be run concurrently with the ABCs of Good Health which has implemented a nutrition and physical activity based curriculum into the centers.
“The hope is that while teachers walk and move more, they will encourage the children they are serving to do the same. We are very appreciative of this opportunity and have seen very positive outcomes from our current Healthy Kids initiative, this project will no doubt make a difference,” said
Statewide, the BCBSNC Foundation invested $782,953 in grants to 30 organizations as part of this most recent grant cycle. The BCBSNC Foundation focuses on three key areas: improving the health outcomes of vulnerable populations served by safety-net organizations, promoting healthy and physically active communities, and increasing the effectiveness and capacity of nonprofit organizations in the state. More information can be found at www.bcbsncfoundation.org.
WCHL Report on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC Foundation Pedometer Grant.
POD Grant
The Orange County Partnership for Young Children and Child Care Services Association was chosen to participate in an exciting new children’s obesity prevention program called Preventing Obesity by Design (POD). The long-term goal of POD is to reverse the trend toward childhood obesity through
improving outdoor environments in childcare centers and conducting related teacher education to support children’s physical activity and healthy eating.
A total of three Orange County child care centers will be chosen and served by the program over a three-year period that ends in December of 2011. For year one, the Children’s Learning Center (CLC) of Hillsborough was chosen in late June to be
the initial grant recipient. Judy O’Connell, CLC director, sees tremendous benefit for her program and its children as a result of the resources that will be provided by POD. “This is a great opportunity for our center. We envision using our new
playground as an extension of our classrooms and taking all areas of our curriculum outdoors,” said Ms. O’Connell. Later this summer, CLC and members of the OCPYC and CCSA POD teams will participate in an official program roll-out and
training during the month of August. After extensive planning time during the fall and winter, planting and playground modifications for CLC will begin in the spring of 2010.
The second and third Orange County POD sites will be chosen in June of 2010. Statewide, the POD program will provide services for 30 participating child care centers.
POD is offered through a partnership between the Natural Learning Initiative, NC State University and the North Carolina Partnership for Young Children, Inc., and funded by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina, Inc.
Growing Healthy Kids.....and Potatoes
Children participating in the Growing Healthy Kids program were able to see some of their work come to fruition this weekend. The Children and their families harvested some potatoes and other vegetables from the local community gardens. They then held a pot luck dinner at the Carrboro Untied Methodist Church. Where different recipes were shared and everyone was able to sample the some great produce.
James Street Garden Ribbon Cutting
On Saturday May 30th the Partnership in collaboration with Duke Energy, O.C. Cooperative Extension, and the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund, celebrated a ribbon cutting at a third community garden site on James St. in Carrboro. The garden is part the Carrboro Growing Healthy Kids Project which has started two other commnity gardens in the area. Attending the ceremony were families participating in the garden along with Partnership board members, Duke Energy employees and retirees.
It was a beautiful morning to celebrate such a wonderful project and a great example of community collaboration. The garden serves the local faith community and James St residence.
For addtional information on the Growing Healthy Kids Project or the Healthy Kids Campaign iniative click here
Community Garden Workshop
Recently, the Partnership along with Kidzu Children’s Museum and the Carrboro Farmers’ Market put on a workshop for local children and families. The workshop helped children learn the importance of good nutrition through learning stations and activities showing the many development stages of growing fruits and vegetables. The event was held at Carrboro Elementary school which is also the location of one of the Growing Healthy Kids Community gardens. The children and their families also had the opportunity to sample locally grown fruits and vegetables provided by the Carrboro Farmers’ Market. This learning experience was well attended and is a continued collaboration with the participating agencies.
2009 Smart Start Conference
2008
WUNC-TV Gardens Special
On Thursday November 6th WUNC Television will air a feature recognizing Carrboro as a North Carolina Fit Community. Begining at 7:30pm the segment will focus on Carrboro's community wide effort to provide a holistic approach to a healthier, more active lifestyle.
The Partnership in collaboration with the Town of
The Partnership then went onto secure a grant from the NC HWTF that started our Growing Healthy Kids Project. The project is part of the Healthy Kids Campaign and is curretnly funding and supporting families in two community gardens located in Carrboro.
After the segment airs it will be avaiable at the WUNC website http://www.unctv.org/ncnow/fitcommunity/. We hope you enjoy a look at a very special community that is working hard to support a healthier more active lifestyle for children and families.
Family Fun Day
On Wednesday October 15th The Carrboro Farmers' Market in collaboration with Kidzu Children's Museum, Lantern Restaurant, and the Partnership, put on Fall Family Day. A great time was had by all, with children taking part in pumpkin decorating and healthy activities, while parents sampled Fall treats from Chef Andrea Reusing. We would like to thank everyone that came out and look forward to seeing you next Fall.
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