A Good Start with Head Start

I was born in 1960 to teen parents who had little family support.  My mother and father married but only remained married until 1961.  My father had entered the military and decided he didn’t want the responsibility of a wife and child at age 18.  So in 1961, my mother became a single parent at age 19, she wasn’t formally educated beyond high school.  She held a series of minimum wage jobs until 1965 when she went to work at a plastics factory in central Vermont where she met and eventually married my step-father in 1965.  Due to numerous life changes and family moves, I missed kindergarten enrollment.  Somewhat more stabilized by late spring 1966, my mother learned of a new program that we qualified for called Head Start and she enrolled me for the summer of 1966 in preparation for entering 1^st grade that same year.  I skipped kindergarten altogether because of the timing of elementary school enrollment.

In recalling my Head Start experience, it provided me with a consistent routine and a basic understanding of school expectations.  I fondly remember sitting in a circle on the floor while the teacher read books to my class and this was the first time I remember having been read to as a child.  Since my family was relatively poor, a hot breakfast of oatmeal was provided every morning at Head Start and to this day, I enjoy a bowl of good old fashion oatmeal!  My involvement with Head Start laid a foundation for my value of education and recognition that opportunities for a good life are more prevalent for those who are educated, whether formally or informally. I finished graduate school over twenty years ago, and I’m not altogether sure if I would have pursued a higher education if it hadn’t been for the early “head start” program.

I have been blessed in my life to work for the past 25 years with United Way, an organization that cares for the community and supports early learning efforts.  United Way’s focus on early childhood education is near and dear to my heart and I believe the greatest opportunity for us to make a difference in individual lives and community conditions.  I know that the Head Start program can be credited for helping me achieve a level of success by laying a strong foundation for early learning.  Here in the St. Cloud area, United Way supports the Reach-Up Head Start program, an early learning opportunity for children from low income families.

A Hidden/ or not so hidden societal problem

The tragedy in Tucson this past weekend reminds me of how often our society neglects or overlooks the needs and issues of the mentally ill. Could this tragedy have been prevented? Could those lives have been spared? There are so many questions about why the signs the shooter presented weren’t attended to.

Research tells us that 1 in 4 people in the state of Minnesota will have a mental health issue of sorts in their lifetime. The field of mental health is vast and mental illness manifests in so many ways and forms – I’m recently reminded that you can’t “pep” talk someone out of a depressive state that just reinforces their negative feelings and self doubt.

Personally, mental health issues have affected our family in the past few years with my daughter being diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome) a year ago after a serious boating accident and a step-daughter who has experienced paralyzing depression.

What I’ve learned is the following:

• To help people remember that they are not alone and many people cope with similar situations
• Some common struggles include depression, anxiety, substance abuse and bother mental illnesses
• Always staying hopeful – treatment does work
• To be supportive and praise loved ones for seeking help
• Physical activity and being surrounded by supportive people is essential.

In the St. Cloud area, there are services to support people with mental illness including: Caritas Mental Health clinic, Lutheran Social Services, the Behavioral health services at the St. Cloud Hospital, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and many others. Call United Way 2-1-1 for more information and resources to help.

Budgeting & Holiday Gift Giving

As our United Way embarks on a deeper understanding of financial stability through a financial fitness effort, it occurs to me that there is no better time to exercise budgetary discipline than the holidays. This is the time of year when gift giving and guilt collide and the word "thrift" never enters the conversation.

As I reflect at Christmas about my family, I fondly remember my grandmother who had 40+ grandchildren and for many years provided some sort of gift for her grandchildren. Most often, she made hand-made or home-made items - knitted mittens, hats, scarves, cookies or candies and I was always amazed that she remembered everyone. Grandma Bell was definitely thrifty and frugal and learned that from raising 10 children with very limited resources. I admired and respected her for both raising her children and also working for 25 years in a leather factory where she stitched leather handbags, belts and other goods.

This year, I have vowed to spend "more time" with my family and offer coupons for services in lieu of multiple gifts. My husband and I established a holiday gift budget for the first time in our 6+ years of marriage and we have committed to making gifts and communicating our sentiments with those we care about in creative ways that don't cost much more than time!

Thriftiness is defined as: Needs are what you must have to live; wants are everything else you would like to have. Learning to be thrifty means saying yes to only some of your wants, so needs will get met.

This Christmas season celebrate and consider the many ways that you can express your feelings and thoughts without spending money that you don't have and racking up credit card debt.

My grandma passed away in 2002 but I will always remember her generosity of spirit and I'm finally learning at age 50 - her lesson of thriftiness! Thank you, Grandma!

For more information on the subject of Financial Fitness - visit United Way's website at www.unitedwayhelps.org

Reading to a child can help eliminate the need . . .

READING to a Child can help to eliminate the need by helping to prepare and foster children’s readiness to enter school.  The fact is if children are not strong readers by 4th grade, they are more likely to drop out of school, be unemployed or underemployed, to end up on welfare or in prison.

Reading to a child from birth helps to stimulate their mind and creativity centers and begin language formation.  The brain develops most rapidly during the first three years of life and 85% of the brain is developed by age 5.  Research tells us that hours spent learning in infancy is more powerful than months learning in middle age.

The other startling fact is that children born into poverty without access to active learning pre-school opportunities tend to have significantly lower vocabulary and language development by the time they enter kindergarten – the difference is exponential – lower income children know approximately 4,000 words (unless engaged in a preschool learning environment) upon entering kindergarten versus 20,000 words for children who have been read to and where reading is a priority in the family.

My husband, Jeff teaches 3rd grade and can immediately predict how well a student will do in his classroom based on their ability and fluency with reading.    

       

Our United Way has offered the Imagination Library program (a free book monthly from birth to age 5) for our community’s children since April 2005.  Last month, we conducted an annual evaluation with kindergarten teachers and early childhood family education representatives.  Indicators of early literacy readiness include things like:  holding a pencil correctly, holding a book correctly, recognizing letters, differentiating lower and upper case letters, writing letters and even their name, making sense of a story, the size of their vocabulary, counting skills and showing respect for books and other property.

To quote one kindergarten teacher, “For story chooser, a lot of my students bring in Imagination Library books, and other kids shout out “I have that book too”. It allows them to have something in common, they love that”.

So on our journey to eliminate some of the needs in our community, our early childhood effort can make a difference in the current lives and aspirations of our youngest citizens.

Eliminate the Need!

Welcome to my first blog – I’m Noreen Dunnells, President of United Way of Central Minnesota. I’ve spent most of my career, 25 years and counting, working for United Way with an eye toward improving people’s lives.  In thinking about what would be meaningful and interesting to discuss in this inaugural blog, I recall a former Board member saying that United Way should focus our vision on “Eliminating the Need”.

Eliminating the Need is sort of like Ending Poverty – it’s daunting, challenging and is it really possible?  What has to happen in our community, our state, our country, our world for us to “eliminate the need”? I think that it begins at the granular level of community – it’s about having a true consistent, community vision that everyone can wrap their mind around and work toward through partnerships, coalitions and multiple ways to weave our tapestry.

What are your thoughts about how to “eliminate the need” in our community?