Grantees

Provide grants to establish collaborative preschool programs with public schools and community-based providers in order to increase access to high quality early care and education services.

The Children’s Room of Waterbury seeks funding to support the Waterbury Dad’s Club, a program designed to strengthen relationships between fathers, father figures, and male-identifying caregivers and their children. The club will provide welcoming opportunities for dads to spend intentional time with their children through shared play, outdoor exploration, and community connection. The program will also help fathers connect with one another, share parenting experiences, and build supportive social networks. By creating inclusive, engaging experiences, the Waterbury Dad’s Club will promote healthy child development, strong family bonds, and a more connected community.

Through weekly playgroups, parent workshops and summer community based activities, the Winooski Family Center will offer caregivers and children, birth through five years of age the opportunity to participate in learning activities that are child-centered, developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive. While drawing from the Early Multi-Tiered System of Support’s (Pyramid Model) Positive Solutions for Families evidence based practice model, the facilitator will offer a curriculum to support parental resilience and social connections as well as Strengthening Families Protective Factors to increase family stability and children’s ability to learn.

To create a kindergarten atmosphere at the Winooski Family Center.

This funding will support the Y Early Learning Readiness Program, an evidence-based early learning support program for underserved or economically-disadvantaged children and their at-home caregivers.

Program educates and trains home-based caregivers on developmentally appropriate learning activities for children ages 0-5.

Franklin Grand Isle Bookmobile is a mobile library and literacy organization serving rural communities in northwestern Vermont. We bring books, learning activities, and community connections directly to children, youth, and families who face barriers to accessing community resources. Our focus is on helping to close the education gap by making reading and learning exciting, fun, and accessible. By traveling to towns across Franklin and Grand Isle counties, we are able to meet people where they are, in their driveways, in a way that traditional libraries and organizations cannot. Our unique structure brings information, books, and connection right to the people who need it most.