Discovery + Alliance: Partnership Success Stories

Whether it's taking part in legislative tours of early childhood learning centers, events at the Capitol to highlight early care and education, or writing a simple letter to the editor, some Discovery communities are learning how to advocate and have been quite successful at it.

Karen Edelson, director of the town of Enfield Child Development Center, conducted a legislative tour prior to the November 2008 election with Sen. John Kissel and his Democratic challenger, George Colli.

“I felt that the tours were very helpful because I really had the opportunity to explain what we were all about. Plus, they were able to ask specific questions about what our needs were,” said Edelson.

These tours were set up through the Alliance's Director of Advocacy and Outreach, Samantha Dynowski.

And the tours aren't the only thing the Enfield Discovery Community (KITE – Key Initiative to Early Education) has taken part in, said Amy Morales, family resource coordinator.

“In talking to others- we really enjoyed having Shaun McNally [former Allliance executive director] come to one of our KITE Discovery Collaborative meetings to talk to us about advocacy on a local level,” she said. “His perspective helped us see that we were on the right track and just needed to engage a few more key partners, and he had great ideas for how to do this. He had some great ideas for partnering with us on some new initiatives so we were sad to see him leave the Alliance! The Stone Soup conference [a Graustein-supported annual conference] is where we heard him speak and offer that opportunity.”

Enfield also nominated a state representative to to receive a “Children's Champion” award for the Alliance.

“The Children's Champion event was also a great day and Karen Edelson had nominated [Rep.] Karen Jarmoc for that award,” Morales said. “After...Karen gave us a personal, behind-the-scenes tour of the LOB and Capitol. It was really impressive. She has been a supporter of our work all along and this event helped strengthen our connection with her.”

Morales concluded with this thought:

“Overall these events have been helpful to us and we would welcome the chance to take advantage of more opportunities that the Alliance can offer us.”

West Hartford's Community Liaison Amy Yarbrough also sees the connection as a vital resource for Discovery communities.

"I think Alliance events provide another networking opportunity for Discovery communities to connect,” she said.

West Hartford representatives have attended both the Alliance Advocacy Day in March and the Children's Champions event in May.

“It is powerful to see all these people at the Capitol for the same purpose and not feel so isolated in our own towns,” Yarbrough said. “Our state representatives become more accessible by visiting them in their 'house' and then inviting them to ours - school, coffee shop, community event, etc.”

“The Alliance has provided a voice for the early childhood community at the state level, which is so important considering many of the early childhood providers do not have the opportunity to even network with each other,” Yarbrough added. “Raising the level of importance for quality care, appropriate compensation and training has given this important career more weight and legitimacy among policy makers. In West Hartford, we are fortunate to have elected officials both at the state and local level that understand the importance of quality early education, and have consistently shown their support of our partnership, and statewide issues.”

The six Discovery Communities collectively known as Children's First of Southeastern CT have also taken part in many Alliance events and have taken advocacy even a step further by putting pen to paper and writing letters to the editor of two local newspapers, the New London Day and the Norwich Bulletin.

“On the Care 4 Kids issue, our success in writing the editorial was directly related to the Alliance doing the legwork and connecting it to policy work,” said Ron Ward, community organizer for Children's First of Southeastern CT.

Getting the piece placed, said Ward, began with fostering a relationship with his local newspapers and develop relationships with local reporters. When he sent in his “letter to the editor,” both papers opted to turn his piece into a featured editorial, something he didn't ask them to do, but they did because they had built that credible relationship and the piece was well-written and thought-provoking.

“I took talking points from the Alliance and talked to early childhood professionals around the table,” said Ward. “But the Alliance served as the spark plug and encouraged people to write letters. Sometimes people need to be reminded [of that].”

Children First of SE CT also took part in the Alliance's Advocacy Day and Children's Champions Day, both events that brought advocates and parent-advocates in direct contact with legislators. Looking back, Ward said those types of contacts would not have happened without the encouragement of the Alliance.

“We would not go on our own,” he said. “The coordination and expertise by the Alliance was critical, especially when it came to talking points. We get so busy at the local level with direct services we [don't] get the time to do [necessary] research. The key reason to participate is so local parents and early childhood professionals can feel a connectedness to the larger community and not feel so isolated. I would encourage more participation. It helps provide a catalyst to engage people locally.”