 Welcome to Love Where You Live, your monthly magazine for the best things that are going on in Sheboygan County. I'm Betsy Alice, your host. I am the Executive Director of the Sheboygan County Chamber. And this morning we have three guests on the program. I'm going to look at my notes so that I make sure I have their names correctly. We have Carissa Frank from the Sheboygan County Community Partnership for Children Coordinator. The longest title of the group. And then we also have Patricia Patterson to my left, Executive Director of Family Connections. And Luanne Travis, Executive Director of the Family Resource Center. Welcome all of you. Thank you for having us. Thank you for coming out on this cold day. We are celebrating the new year and I think with that we're going to talk about how we celebrate the new people in our community. The newest, tiniest people in our community and how your programs can pave the way to have the most successful birth of a new baby. Today we'll be talking about this new program and it's called Welcome Baby. So first question, if you'd tell us a little bit, Luanne and Carissa I think have this question about the Community Partnership for Children Coalition. They're participating in this group and a little history about how this initiative began in Sheboygan County. Okay, so I guess I was picked to start because I probably have a little more historical knowledge about it. Probably about three years ago United Way of Sheboygan County had was looking at going to more of looking at programs that they were doing that were more prevention based, more strength based. And how do we engage with families and with our community in a positive, strength based way. And they also were looking at the fact that oftentimes we all know that the research shows that when there's crisis or need there were a lot of signs way before the crisis happened, before the need happened. And so you put that together and it says the best way to partner with people and support people and have a healthy community is to get started early, really early. And so the new year and a new year baby, you know, and all these things about babies research shows that the sooner we support healthy child development, the better for that baby's development, also the best for the family resiliency. So United Way wanted to have all organizations and partners who are invested in healthy child development and family resiliency to get together to create this coalition based with a collective impact model. So we collectively work together on this shared mission and then how do we use the resources we have as agencies as opposed to making brand new resources. No more silos, not more silos, but having everyone come together to work together. So the focus right now for the community partnership for children is birth to four years old or five years old to get them ready for school and support their healthy development. And it was based basically on the model that's in Brown County. Brown County has the exact same coalition as far as the community partnership for children. Manitowoc County also has an early learning coalition, which Patricia knows much more about than I do, and in Fond du Lac. So when we looked at Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Brown County, but Sheboygan County did not have this. So United Way went to Brown County and studied their model. And very quickly, they shared with us the information about Welcome Baby. And then their big suggestion was don't just start with everyone volunteering to come together in this coalition only, but hire a coordinator. Hire someone who's going to keep us all gelled and keep everybody together and focused. And so we were very grateful because we've had different funding from different partners in the community to hire Carissa. And Brown County, of course, was a little, they were just so excited that we could do this right away because it took them probably about eight years into their coalition to do this. Oh, wow. Yeah, they said there's was a long time. It's been nice to learn from others' experience. So here's Carissa. Here's Carissa. Yeah, in January, I was hired to coordinate the coalition in general. So the community partnership for children, again, like Luann said, is focused on that prenatal or birth to five years old and then supporting their families. So they get a good start. So we have all sorts of organizations. We have healthcare, hospitals, Sheboygan County Health and Human Services, our nonprofits like Family Resource Center, Family Connections, and other nonprofits that are focused on children and the families and as well as individuals in the community with certain strengths. So it's really been great. We had quarterly meetings this year and it was just awesome to see that group coming together. So the first priority was the Welcome Baby starting that early, early start. So it just made sense for our coalition to start that way. I think it's a wonderful development and just speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and all of the businesses in the area, the idea that most soft skills are learned before the age of five will also have an impact on their employment years from now. So I think that's why we have a big stake in this program as well. And I think that's important Betsy because many people think, oh, that's a really nice thing to do is to reach out to families. It's a necessary thing to do. All the research shows that that first five years is crucial for long-term outcomes, whether it's your workforce development, healthcare outcomes, and all of that, mental health, physical health, all of that. And if anybody wants a great resource, you just go to the Harvard website for the Center on the Developing Child. They have put a ton of information on there about we have to start earlier and also in a very strength-based way, not in a crisis way. Nice. Well, good to have you not at the center of this coordinating it. I think that's probably the magic and the reason it's so successful. Well, it's a lot to ask of a group of people that's already, you know, so immersed in their own organizations where they can take their time and they've all devoted a lot of time to this. But I can see the need as far as having someone that's their sole job to coordinate the projects. Excellent. So, Matricia and Lou Anne again. Welcome again. And I understand Welcome Baby is a new program. And I'd like to know what the mission of that particular program is, if you could share. So with the coalition, as we explained, the various components of the community came together. And as a mission, which applies to Welcome Baby, the Cheboygan County Coalition, their goal is to help children and families to grow, learn and achieve. So once we're doing that in the community, we know that Welcome Baby becomes part of that. With Welcome Baby, that's part of the mission as well. And what's the process for it? And, you know, I know some new staff have been hired. You know, how does the program work? Yes, we were very fortunate through, again, United Way to contract with us, Family Resource Center and Family Connections, to hire new staff to work the program with Welcome Baby. It's all new first-time parents. So we hired with Family Connections two community resource specialists. These family resource specialists, they are very experienced. There's Karen Apex and also Susan Crisp on our end. And then Lou Ann, she'll talk about the parent as teachers coordinator that she's hired. But with our end, we are the resource end. So they are very well informed and experienced when it comes to early child development. That's their passion, that's their background. They understand birth to five and the needs of children. They also understand community resources and are currently looking at what else is out there and what's in the Sheboygan County community because we know that there's a vast array of resources that can help new parents. So they're connecting, making those connections in the community to make sure that as they visit those first-time parents, they are getting the parents what they need. So with contracting to provide that service to the community, the resource specialists, they're, you know, if you can imagine, they're at the office and they're waiting for the call from the hospitals Aurora or St. Nick's. They get those calls almost every day because they're to visit, we expect about a little over 300 new families, new parents, new babies in the county. So when they get that call, they have a case of resources that they carry with them to the hospital. They have badges, they're volunteers with the hospital so that they're able to first get that information from the nurses at the hospital of some of the expectations of the parents, some of what the needs are from the parents. And then they also, once they're there, they actually have that opportunity to learn more about the parents' needs as they're talking to the parents. The parents have been very receptive and the families are there to also give input and information about what's needed for this first-time family, first-time parent. So once they're there, they're getting resources that families may not have known about that's in the community such as the WIC program or mental health information. Maybe there's some basic needs that the family might have from Pampers to Formula, but they're there to make sure that families are getting what they need at the time as well as following up with them. So once they leave and go home, they also give them a call to see if they need anything so that it's an ongoing relationship so that that family knows that they can call them in the future if there are any needs that they might have. When they're at the hospital, they also talk to them and give them information about safe sleep, for example, so giving them a book as a welcome gift that talks about safe sleep, giving them a booklet of information and actually going through that booklet with them of community resources in the Sheboygan County area. Once they do have that information, they're also welcome to have a home visit, so that's an optional visit that they can also have. And Lou Ann has more information about that because then that's where that collaboration comes in. We're able to hand that family off to the Family Resource Center and their staff to further help in the home. We also make sure that all this information and there's outcomes, so we make sure that there's a database that we're entering all the information in so that we know what the outcomes are for our families in the future. So that gives a feel of the process of what happens for the community resource specialist, that family resource specialist that understands child development and is at the hospital with the family on those visits. And then Lou Ann has more about the Family Resource Center and what happens in the home. Yeah, so I mean if you just kind of imagine as you will your first time mom just had a baby. Absolutely, absolutely. You've got the nursing staff and we know that being at the hospital is a quick turnaround. It's a quick, you know, you're in, you're out. And that resource specialist just tries to get into your room to say hi and welcome your baby and welcome you and talk about those resources. But we know that all can't be done in 24 hours. We know that. So we want to make sure once the mom is discharged, then they get a phone call follow up your home now we know we talked to you about resources is there anything else we can do for you. And then also offer if a parent educator can come and visit. If that mom seems to be engaged and wants more information and it can't be done through a quick visit at the hospital and it can't be done through a phone call. Then the parent educator comes in and then the parent educator comes to the home and does a visit to really just sit down and make sure that the dots are being connected. But also that the questions are being addressed. Sometimes it's not because I need formula or diapers or I need to get on WIC. Sometimes it's because they got questions that you know about the child development about healthy attachment, you know, about swaddling about soothing. And also in all cases, the parent educator encouraging the mom to contact her doctor. She's got questions. Sometimes we need that assurance that your questions are not silly. That's what your doctor is there for. So we never go in acting like a healthcare professional, you know, but we are trained. It's a trained parent educator for the parents as teachers model, which is a home visitation model, federally accepted nationwide. So we try to really support that mom being engaged with her doctor also because that's important to feel that advocacy, that it is okay to make that phone call, ask these questions. So much has changed. You know, I think about when I had children, which was a little bit of time ago. Back when you stayed in the hospital for four days and you still only had this much interaction. You know, you had these few instructions before you went home and that was it. Correct. You know, other than La Leche League and places like that, if you had made that connection, you had no support. I remember when I had my first son, like my husband's driving us home and we look back and we're like, oh my gosh, like we were yesterday. We were two and now we're three and now we're actually like taking him home and taking a tiny human, you know. So just supporting that. And that's what we love about this program. This program is not because you qualify because you are in crisis or need based. This program is we make no assumptions that you feel confident and capable or that you even understand how all the services work in this county. Right. And so we just want it to be a clean slate. We're here for whatever your needs are. We're engaged as long as you're engaged. And some of the parents we're hoping that need to have maybe some more long term home visitations will then allow that parent educator to continue to come back. Because that's what we do at the Family Resource Center. We do home visitation where we go every other week or once a month into the home to support that family's resiliency, their well-being and the child's healthy development. So we, you know, we'd like this to be a very common practice that when people talk about their resource specialist who came to the hospital, oh it was so great when she came and I talked to her, my parent educator. We would love to have people say, my parent educator. I go, oh yeah, what did your parent educator? That's a great way to look at it because I think that changing that perception over time or even immediately would be a great thing. Right. Because to know that this is available was what surprised me to anyone and that it happens automatically. I asked, you know, what qualification is there and you said, you have to have a baby. I thought, well, okay, I don't know. But I mean it's just a wonderful service that people might think is not available to them. Correct. And if you didn't get that visit because we know babies come at different times and people get discharged. If you don't feel like you've gotten the information, you can call Carissa at United Way. You can call Family Resource Center. You can call Family Connections. That's what this coalition is. It's not about one agency having all the eggs in their basket. It's about many agencies working together so that we can say, oh, you didn't get visited by the family, the resource specialist. Carissa knows who they are. You have them. I have the parent educator. We really want to make that continuum of service to be very seamless, to let parents know this was really cool that we felt supported. I think this is very exciting. And I understand there are other places that also have this program that you've learned from. And I think we talked a little bit about that already, Brown County and Fond du Lac, et cetera. This one piece, the coalition is looking at other pieces of supporting healthy child development. And as this coalition, which, when you think about it, is only formally a year old. So it's formally a year old and it's itself a baby. So now the Welcome Baby program is one activity and we have other activities we're looking at. So let's talk about some of those. Go ahead, Carissa. Sure, yeah. While United Way also had a piece in supporting the Born to Succeed initiative in Plymouth. So Luanne also is coordinating some of the developmental screening events. So during their home visits, as their child grows, they do developmental screening to make sure they're on track. So if a parent maybe doesn't take home visits or decide to do that, we are there hosting events. Screening events that anyone could register their child birth to for. So we're looking at, and that was a pilot program in Plymouth, funded by United Way a few years back. So we're looking now to take that model and move it into all of Sheboygan County. So that's kind of our next step is to providing those screens. Sheboygan Countywide. Yeah, we've had a really great result in Plymouth. Typically a school system will do developmental screens in February, March or April for two and a half years up. But again, roll it back. While you're waiting for two and a half to three years old to introduce to families that concept of developmental screening. Let's start right at birth to say three times a year through your community, you can have a developmental screen. And it's a tool called the ASQ that doctors are very familiar with. Doctors will mail them out or you'll do it in the waiting room. But if you haven't marked it or walked through it right, it can look great and it can get filed. And nobody really knows it. But when you come to a developmental screen, the parent learns about the significance of the screen. And now has a screen that if there's any red flags can go with that tool to their doctor and have a very intentional conversation. And that doctor knows that tool. And we think, again, supporting health care and supporting parents' advocacy by using a common tool. I think that's the magic. We all need a common language to talk about our child's development. Just having that look. That look see every, you said three times a year? We did it in Plymouth for three times a year. We partnered with the Plymouth school system. What we learned through this born to succeed is that each school district needs to be involved to make this successful. It can't be just family resource center doing screenings. It can't be just family connections. So we have public health, the public school system, family resource center, family connections, and some child care centers. We're trying to get some of their staff involved in the screening. So that we start creating that common language with child care centers. So hopefully the ASQ becomes that something you're familiar with at your child care center, with your doctor, with your school system, all of that. So where do you see this in five years? I look at it from the workforce development perspective in that what we're doing from birth to five is we understand that the brain is developing rapidly at that time. And it's a time to shape productivity. So there's social-emotional skills, for example, learning impulse control, learning motivation and attentiveness, all of those, the skills that are important, persistence. All of this is important in the workplace, sociability. So having that is a great investment. So we're looking at investing in children early so that in the future we have a productive workforce. We're shaping the future. Well said. I think that's part of the reason that we worked with United Way initially when we started talking about this and had a few sessions with our members about the whole early learning spectrum and how important it was. In five years we should be a coalition that paints that picture that parents are commonly talking about having a visit from a parent educator, if not a long-term visit. And that how a family resource specialist, you know, follow-up phone calls, you know, so that other parents are saying, boy, they didn't have that when we were having a baby. You know what I mean? That's what we really want to do is make it part of the fabric of parenting and not a stigmatized. Definitely not a stigmatized. It's more proactive like, where do I get one? Where do I get a parent educator? Where do I get a visit from a resource specialist? That's where Brown County is right now and that's where we want to go. We want to visit for, you know, all new parents or at least understanding the resources. Well congratulations to all of you for your hard work around this and the continued success of these programs. I think the coordination of it is essential and I appreciate and I know the community will appreciate this very much. So let's make that goal. Well thanks to United Way for planting that seed. We appreciate United Way. I'll take care. And you know, I hope you'll stay with me for the second part of our program today. Thanks to these folks for bringing us this message today. Welcome back to Love Where You Live, your monthly magazine of the best things happening in Sheboygan County. I am Betsy Alice, the executive director of the Sheboygan County Chamber. And I'm here to share with you today a few of the things that are upcoming for the Chamber and our members and our communities in the months ahead. I think first on the list always is the Chamber Champions Gala, which this year will be at the Ostoff Resort on February 21st. This is our chance to recognize the best of the best of our businesses, of individuals, and of organizations in Sheboygan County that are really making that big difference. This year we have more than 60 nominations for our awards. The awards are as follows, manufacturer of the year, services company of the year, retailer of the year, nonprofit organization of the year, tourism star, culinary star. Those are the best chefs and restaurants. Ambassador of the Year, the ambassadors are a program in the Chamber of folks that wear blue jackets and do great things in our community, welcoming businesses, cutting blue ribbons, doing a lot of the greeting at our business after hours events. And each year they select the best of their top ambassadors for an award. We also have the Chamber Superstar, which is a lifetime achievement award. We don't always give these out, but it's possible that one of those will be revealed at the Gala as well. And there's another award that is one of my favorites called Working Together. And this award was established to recognize organizations like government, nonprofit organizations that are working with businesses to accomplish some major initiative in our area. And this year I believe we have six nominations just for that one award, which is a great sign. So the evening is a red carpet evening. The tickets are now on sale at shaboygon.org. You'll notice something new about shaboygon.org if you go there. It is now a brand new website. So I think you'll find it simpler to negotiate. You'll be able to register for our events very easily. And just to see the breadth and scope of the kinds of programs that the Chamber undertakes. So I encourage you all to just take a look at shaboygon.org. This year for the first time ever, the Chamber will be hosting an Athena Award luncheon. And that will be in May. And that award is going to be sponsored by the Kohler Company. That award will go to the top person in our community who has encouraged leadership in women. It may be a woman, it may be a man. But it's someone who has strengthened the path for women to go to the top of our organizations. So that's a brand new award offered by the Chamber and we hope that you'll support that award and think about who you might want to nominate for that award. Our coastal organization has now grown to 600 young professionals. So that's an important one to watch. Look at their events on our website at shaboygon.org. And hopefully, if you're between the ages of 21 and 40, you can take advantage of some of the programs and events they offer. And then last but not least, our shaboygon travel in the fall of 2017 will be on the Rhine and the Mosul rivers in Europe. And this will be a phenomenal riverboat excursion. So if you're interested in that again, just let us know and we can give you more information. Thank you so much for joining us. See you next month.