“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn
Dear Friend of the Collaboration:
This spring, we watched children squeal at worms and other critters burrowing in their child care’s garden compost. Together we celebrated new blooms and delicate sprouts that emerged from the soil. We watched as those small, strong starts became a bounty of cherry tomatoes and giant cucumbers! The Collaboration for Early Childhood was able to create early learning gardens in 2021 because of the support of generous people like you.
This year we have worked hard to ensure that our children can grow strong and healthy and be ready to thrive in kindergarten. Your support helped us to:
- deliver 65 baby bundles to new and prenatal moms and parents in our community;
- grant 1,099 professional development hours to early childhood educators;
- administer 731 vision and 729 hearing screenings to children at early learning centers.
There is a lot more that we’ve done. You can read about it on our new website: collab4kids.org. This year your contribution comes at a time when the Collaboration and the community are looking forward to finally coming back together again. With your generous support, we will:
- provide training to teachers to understand trauma-informed practices, mindfulness, and mental health;
- offer professional development and supports for health care providers, our heroes throughout the pandemic;
- create empowerment and leadership opportunities for our evolving community of families.
Throughout everything that has happened this past year, we have always been there for children and families. We intend to be there this year and in the years going forward as well.
Thank you for being our partner in this important work.
John Borrero
Executive Director