Linn County Community Empowerment's Showcase of Accomplishments

In Fiscal Year 2007 the Linn County Community Empowerment initiative provided direct service contact to over 4,400 children and their families and supported quality care in over 1,000 Home or Center based child care slots. Following are a few highlights:

Programs

• Provided 120 full-day full-year quality child care slots for children and their working families.
• Improved competencies of 580 Home care providers (not unduplicated #) and 297 Center staff through training, curriculum ideas and site visits, which impacted the children in their care. Children in 609 home care slots were served nutritional meals (CACFP), in a registered childcare home, by staff that is ChildNet certified. Provided support and assistance to 5 Home-care providers seeking Accreditation.
• Provided free transportation so 53 children could consistently attend quality school-based preschools.
• Conducted 28% more Well Child Clinics (comprehensive health screens) than last FY to over 2400 uninsured or underinsured children.
• Supported the efforts of the Linn County hawk-I Outreach Coordinator and enrollment in hawk-I insurance grew to 1,329, a 4% increase over last FY.
• Identified 191 children with possible developmental delays and followed-up to ensure they received services.
• Provided 40 comprehensive group-parenting sessions to 529 parents, with over 76% reporting an increase in knowledge on guidance, nurturing, interaction and child development skills.
• Provided over 2,700 in-home contacts to families experiencing violence or homelessness. Of the families with founded child abuse findings over 85% did not re-abuse.
• Supported on-site behavioral consultant services to 30 childcare providers seeking assistance in serving and 50 children with challenging behaviors in order to reduce expulsion and increase stability. Only 1 child was expelled from care during the fiscal year.
• Over 1,400 Linn County children have benefited from a project aimed at improving the quality of care in childcare centers through use of national recognized assessment tools (ECERS/ ITERS). 44 classrooms received an environmental assessment of quality an on-site consultation and as a result 90% of classrooms improved the overall quality of care.
• Opened/maintained 55 new slots of free high quality preschool. 100% of classrooms are led by a teacher with a 4-year degree in early childhood.
• Increased the number of books available to children enrolled in childcare sites participating in Every Child Reads by 49%.
• 100% of infant care providers' report incorporating the research-based PITC training into practice.