2011 Mobilization Plan
A Two-Part Plan to Prepare Young Children
in Greater Duluth to be Ready for School
In 2005, United Way of Greater Duluth identified early childhood school readiness as a priority community impact initiative based on Minnesota Department of Education assessments that showed and continue to show today, 50% of Minnesota children are not prepared for school in the areas of language and literacy. This plan was created by the Success By 6 Advisory Council, a team of community leaders and experts in the field of early childhood. Together, we have created a community plan to increase the percentage of children in Greater Duluth who are ready to start school.
Our Objective: Increase the percentage of children who enter kindergarten ready to learn.
Goal 1: Increase the percentage of children in Greater Duluth who enter kindergarten ready to learn to read.
Strategy: Develop a plan to educate the general population and especially parents and caregivers of young children about the importance of Talk. Read. Play. Every Day.
Tactics:
- Continue implementation of Imagination Library
- Continue implementation of Big Red Bookshelf
- Continue Story time events
- Develop free literacy awareness and story time events throughout the year
- Intentional outreach with target audiences and invisible populations
- Develop thoughtful collaborations that will serve our target audience
- Promote 2-1-1 as a resource for young families
Measurement: We are working with each school district to obtain data that will give us a general understanding how children in the public schools are doing on language/literacy assessments at kindergarten entry. We will also continue to measure Imagination Library with the annual parent survey. We are also working with Minnesota Reading Corps in Head Start sites to look at data for children leaving Head Start.
Goal 2: Increase the percentage of children in Greater Duluth who complete the Minnesota mandated early childhood screening (ECS) at age 3
Strategy: Develop a plan to educate the general population, especially parents and caregivers, about the importance of early childhood screening at age 3.
Tactics:
- Outreach to health care providers
- Outreach to childcare providers and preschools
- Outreach at community events
- Intentional outreach to target populations
- Outreach to business community
Measurement: 2010 U.S. Census population estimates, State/Local ECS data
Current data shows:
Duluth is screening 44% of the eligible 948 3 year olds
Hermantown/Proctor is screening 70% of the eligible 158 3 year olds
Definitions:
Target Population: All families with children ages 0-5; especially families with children of color and families living in poverty.