Grantees

Very Merry Theatre plans to expand access to theatre arts-based after school and summer camp programming to children in Winooski. Winooski's population of young people includes a high percentage of youth from the global majority. We hope to partner with Winooski Parks and Recreation to offer theatre arts-based programming to enrich out of school time program offerings in this community and most importantly bring Very Merry's inclusive approach to developing literacy skills, communication skills and teamwork to children from a range of diverse backgrounds. Our goal is to provide 18 weeks of afterschool programming and 1 week of summer day camp to Winooski youth in collaboration with Winooski Parks and Recreation.

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.

A summer program for Winooski students so as they do not lose what they learned over the summer months.

We currently have 4 classrooms serving 40 children ages 2 months to 5 years old. We believe that the environment has the power to shape how and what children can learn, and that in the right environment every child can thrive. Having a high-quality sensory table in each classroom has been cost prohibitive. Our ability to support our students through sensory play would be helped by access to several high-quality sensory bins. This grant could help us support students-particularly our ELL students, and those who get services for speech- with materials for sound panels to reduce the echo in our preschool room. We would also invest in rubberized mats giving children access to climbers in the classroom, reducing stress for teachers

In collaboration with our local office of the Vermont Department Of Health, and Turning Point of Windham County, The Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development (WPC) has trained peer support coaches as postpartum doulas to support expectant and new birth parents in recovery. This pilot program involves multiple organizations utilizing existing structures and strengths in our community. The potential impacts of this support for birth parents in recovery and their children, and the growth and development of a supportive community is worth investigating. With success, this would be a model that could be transferred to communities across the state.

Provide information and supports to a multi-generational group of women that will increase their knowledge and quality of life in three key areas: as an individiual, as a family and as a community member.