T The first community of practice that I chose to look is at the First Five California.It is located in Capitola California and is a non profit local organization funded by the state and the tobacco tax.
The mission of First 5 Santa Cruz County is “to ensure that family-friendly services and education
are available so that every child 0 through 5 in Santa Cruz County is healthy, living with strong
families, and able to reach their greatest potential in school and in life.”Their focus is on resources that benefit three target audiences, the child, the teacher, and the parent in the ares of nutrition, early literacy and language development, and smoking cessation.They target low income and hard to reach families through public education and out reach programs.I chose this community of practice for two reasons one is because I am familiar with the benefits of their work and that they have such a strong focus on early literacy . I have had the honor of working as a literacy coach for them and it was a great experiencing supporting teachers in the preschools with literacy strategies to move their children along to be ready for the demands that Kindergarten puts on young learners in Literacy.The current job opening that I saw they have posted is for an executive director but as I looked again they said there was no current job openings.
The second community of practice I looked into was the local museum, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. They have a variety of wonderful engaging activities for children and families that involve learning and literacy and fun. Such family fun as making a DIY sailboat, being apart of a human train, and designing your own balloon powered rocket car.
Woodblock printing with a steam roller
There are many local organizations that contribute to the community through the local museum such as Santa Cruz gymnastics, numerous dance centers, local artists, and sculptures, schools,parks and recreation , it is a great place to collaborate positive activities and change for our community. This museum brings the history of our town and all its community members can share their talents wit the schools and the community. What a literacy rich environment, this is why I chose it.
Here's their philosophy
Our Event Philosophy
The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History is dedicated to producing dynamic and innovative programs that actively engage local community members as partners. Our programs strive to represent and serve the diverse, talented and multifaceted communities in Santa Cruz County based on their needs, assets and interests. Our programs are greatly inspired by your comments, ideas, and requests, and we want you to be involved.
Collaborations are fundamental in our program design. Our events are co-created with dozens of community collaborators who volunteer their time to work with us to create fun, content-rich, participatory, multidisciplinary and intergenerational events. By collaborating with diverse groups, we are working to build social capital in our community. By intentionally bringing together collaborators and their different audiences to create events together, we are hopefully not just creating exciting programs but also building new relationships and deeper connections among all involved. We believe relationship-building is fundamental to growing strong, creative, active and vibrant communities.
We have developed five main goals which drive our community programs. We want to share them so that we all may more clearly understand why and how we are creating Community Programs at the MAH.
Our program goals are to:
- Meet Community Needs and Assets: meet the needs and highlight the assets of our communities as defined by diverse constituencies within Santa Cruz County.
- Build Social Capital: build social capital by strengthening community connections with our collaborators and visitors. This is a continual process of bonding within preexisting social groups and bridging between groups and individuals who might not usually interact.
- Invite Active Participation: offer opportunities for visitors to have meaningful, hands-on, cultural experiences in which they act as contributors and co-creators, not just consumers.
- Connect People to Creativity and Art: ignite active exploration of creativity and new artistic processes.
- Connect People to Local History and Culture: deepen connections between visitors and the local history and culture of Santa Cruz County.
We invite and welcome your help in meeting these goals and strive to continuously refresh our learning and efforts towards their fulfillment. We see these goals as part of an open community dialogue. If you are interested in collaborating for an upcoming program or have feedback about a previous event, please feel free to email Stacey Marie Garcia, stacey@santacruzmah.org.
This is a great local resource !
The next community of practice I chose is our local public libraries for they are rich with literacy activities for young children, and are a great resource.
This is one of their classes that supports early literacy and families
Family Place Classes
Starting in September, we'll be offering special classes for families with children ages 0 - 3 years old.
Family Place Libraries ™ is a network of children's librarians nationwide who believe that literacy begins at birth, and that libraries can help build healthy communities by nourishing healthy families. Expanding the traditional role of children's library services, Family Place builds on the knowledge that good health, early learning, parental involvement and supportive communities play a critical role in young children's growth and development.
What are Family Place Classes?
Classes are weekly 90 minute gatherings of no more than 30 children and their parents or caregivers. The gatherings include literacy development, movement activities, manipulative activities, socialization activities, and parent discussion time in an informal environment. Occasionally community resource guests will be available. There will be no structured craft.
Family Place emphasizes "process NOT product." Our Family Place classes will encourage parents and caregivers to play with their children while exploring the environment set up in the library. Parents and caregivers will be encouraged to build connections and share resources with each other.
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
Kids can listen to a bedtime (or anytime) story on the phone!
Call 831-420-5780 to listen in.
Call 831-420-5780 to listen in.
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You did a awesome job on your post and provided some wonderful information. I think the First Five organization is a great group to be a part of and I bet they make a big impact on your community.
ReplyDeleteWow, I really like your choices for community of practice that can help you in your endeavor. I had never heard of First Five and I think it would have come in handy when my son lived there with my first grandson. I can see you doing great things in your community for children and families. Great job!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteEven though I live in Connecticut, I am familiar with the First Five organization because they sponsor programming on the PBS station that my children watch! From your post, I now know more about their great work. To be a part of this organization would surely be rewarding for you, especially with your love of early literacy.