Grantees

To prepare schools in Swanton so they are ready to teach children when they enter kindergerten.

This program is designed to strengthen the social-emotional development of their students by acquiring/developing/providing aligned curriculum in all St. Johnsbury's qualified PreK centers.

Arlington Area Childcare Inc is transforming their existing summer and afterschool programs into a comprehensive support center for children in Bennington County, Vermont, facing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), educational setbacks, and insufficient supervision during out-of-school periods. This lack of structured summer programs in Bennington County is alarming. This contributes to food insecurity, summer learning loss, and limited access to safe recreational activities Their initiative aims to address these challenges by providing trauma-informed care, academic enrichment, and social-emotional support in a safe and nurturing environment.

The first five years are years of the greatest growth and the greatest vulnerability. Playgroups promote social skills, key to preventing school failure, and increase parental support, reducing isolation. We will expand our early intervention program by hosting an integrated birth to five playgroup at the Family Center. The playgroup will be staffed by early educators and other specialists so parents can ask questions about development in an informal setting. This ensures that developmental challenges are addressed early-on, preventing school failure. It will give additional support to children with diagnosed disabilities and their parents, strengthening learning and community connections.

This grant will continue and expand playgroups by holding them all year long and add more guest speakers and special events.

Lyndon Institute, a Town Academy high school and Career & Technical Education center, has supported NEK families for more than 155 years. Education in the NEK plays a crucial role; ensuring resilience and sustainability by equipping the next generation with the skills necessary to address the social and economic challenges associated within a historically under-resourced community. Lyndon Institute in partnership with Northeast Kingdom Community Action and CCV will advance the pilot program started in fall of 2024 by growing capacity in support of VT’s need for ECE professionals with career-focused curriculum, licensure as a Teaching Assistant upon graduation, Dual-Enrollment college courses, and targeted education-related internships

Program will create a continuum of research-based prevention education programs that begin at the early childhood education years (0-5) and continues through high school.

Homeless parents will become more knowledgeable of high quality early education and enrichment options and will access child care and preschool for their children. This will help prepare homeless children ages 0-5 for school and be kindergarten ready.