Get Ready to Grow Community Initiative List   This video was awarded a Bronze Telly Award in the category of Not-for-Profit/Charitable Documentary. The Telly Awards, founded in 1979, is the premier award honoring video and television.

Guess who is popping up in parks around the county this summer? Our ‘Get Ready to GROW’ bus, in partnership with the Monroe County Library!

As if parenting young children isn’t hard enough. Add the pandemic, remote learning for preschoolers, all kinds of added stress and we know that parents could use a celebration of all they’ve been through.

As we plan for our respective acknowledgments of Juneteeth, and our government confirms it as a national holiday, I have been thinking about how we each have been introduced to this part of our country's history, and the different ways that key events in Black history are communicated in our families and educational environments.

I have been reflecting this week on how social experiences shape so powerfully the way we each think, perceive, expect, and respond.

We'd like to pay tribute to Johnathan Trost, a former board member who passed away on December 22, 2020.

Recent Highlights

Sitting with parents in a Zoom meeting recently, we each shared our greatest hopes for children – the blue sky we aspire towards. As we took turns, a shared hope was that every child in our care would have unwavering experiences of full acceptance and love – every place they are.

In honor of #SELday – Reach out to one child or young person in your life. Ask them how they are feeling. Share with them how you are doing. Let them know they matter. Make a connection. And spread the word that every day is SEL day and SEL is for everyone.

Hi everyone! I’m Kim Lavender, I'm currently studying to earn a master's in Human Development, with a specialization in early childhood.