Wallingford, CT Discovery Team

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Wallingford, CT Discovery Team

• Community Conversation Follow Up Meeting

William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund
CT League of Women Voters
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Goals of Wallingfords Community Conversation

• Gather together a broad representation of the
  Town of Wallingford
• Conduct a well facilitated discussion about the
  strengths and challenges of living in Wallingford
  when raising very young children

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Goals of Wallingfords Community Conversation
(cont)

• To discover the primary issues of
  parents/guardians who raise young children in
  Wallingford
• To involve parents/guardians in next steps to
  improve early learning experiences for young
  children.

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Community Conversation

• Who Attended
• 104 participants (including Discovery team
  members)
• 69 Surveys returned
• 8 administrators 1 artist 1 elected official
• 12 homemakers 4 office workers
• 14 professionals 1 unemployed
• 5 retirees 1 tradesman 6 students
• 7 teachers 2 healthcare 3
  Child Care Prof..
• 3 counselors 1 retail

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Conversation Findings (Questions, Concerns,
Needs)

• What is Quality Child Care and Who is Providing
  It?
• What does School Readiness really mean? What
  parenting skills and activities help prepare
  children for formal schooling?

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What do we need? (Questions, Concerns, Needs)

• The need for a central gathering place/center
  that offers information, activities and support
  for young children and their parents.
• What services and supports currently exist for
  families with young children?

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What do we need? (Questions, Concerns, Needs)

• The need for more and better programs/activities
  for children 0-5.
• The need for effective coordination and
  dissemination of information regarding pre school
  programs, activities and issues.

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How do we address these issues?

• Participate in a planning group for the topic
  that most interests you
• Recruit others who share the same interest

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Time for Action (moving forward)

• Lets work together and across other committees
  to develop an action plan for Wallingford.

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Time for Action (moving forward)

• Consider the Goals of the the Discovery Team
• Expand the supply of higher quality early
  childcare and early education
• Improve quality of existing programs
• Build strong connections between early education
  and elementary schools
• Improve students social, emotional and academic
  performance.