On Friday, March 30th Partnership Board member and volunteer Barbara VanDewoestine was honored for her commitment to early childhood with the Dorothy B. Graham Award. The award, presented at the Child Care Services Association's Triangle Child Care Awards Breakfast, recognizes individuals who have had an impact on the lives of young children in Durham County. The award is named for Dorothy Graham, a leader in early care and education in Durham County and statewide for more than 25 years. Graham herself was there to present the award to Barbara.

The Partnership had the privilege of nominating Barbara for her leadership, not only on our Board, but throughout the community as a whole. Barbara has been an active member of our Board of Directors since 2002. She has been a strong leader, chairing the Allocations Committee and serving on the Executive Committee. Barbara has always gone above and beyond her role as a Board member, participating in any events sponsored by the Partnership and jumping at opportunities to volunteer with the children we serve. Moreover, Barbara was a dedicated member of the Early Head Start Policy Council, impacting the lives of the many young children and families served by EHS, while also acting as a liaison between EHS and the DPfC Board. Furthermore, Barbara consistently advocates for young children in her church and neighborhood, motivating those around her to take action for children and their families.

Barbara VanDewoestine with her award and Partnership staff Jameka Wells, Laura Benson and Jeanette Maatouk

We are pleased to congratulate Barbara as she stands in Dorothy B. Graham's legacy of visionary leadership and selfless service to early childhood. We are fortunate to have someone of her caliber working on behalf of the Partnership's mission.

Have you ever wondered how the Partnership determines what programs to fund, how children are selected for Early Head Start, or what to look for in a high quality early childhood classroom? The March 27th Early Childhood Bus Tour answered these questions and more for a diverse group of community and business leaders as well as elected officials.

The tour began at the Partnership offices, where attendees were briefed about the tour and expectations were set while enjoying healthy breads baked on-site in the Child Care Services Association kitchen. This kitchen provides nutritious food options for child care centers throughout Durham.

The group then set out for their first stop at Welcome Baby. Director Melva Henry gave a tour of their facility while speaking to their giving closet, car seat and crib programs, and parenting classes, which receive funding from the Partnership. The Partnership supports these evidence-based programs because equipping parents with skills like positive discipline helps them create a loving and playful environment that ultimately prepares their children for success in school. 

For our next stop we visited Little People Day Care, an Early Head Start site. Durham EHS provides child development and family services to families with children birth to 3 years of age. Children with disabilities and risk factors such as teen parents are prioritized for these services. After learning about EHS, our group was able to tour this five star center and its beautiful outdoor learning environment, recently completed in collaboration with N.C. State’s Natural Learning Initiative.

The final stop was at Christian Prep Academy, a long time NC Pre-K provider that was recently able to start services for additional children following the governor’s expansion of Pre-K. Director Pam Nichols talked to the group about the importance of play and how they should see signs of literacy and math in every area of their five star NC Pre-K classrooms. The classes sang songs which incorporated the alphabet, helping the children to build their literacy skills without even being aware of it.

This tour provided participants with the opportunity to see Durham’s early childhood system at work, and receive answers to many of their questions about the Partnership’s role in it. The Partnership would like to thank all of the agencies involved and their staff for welcoming our group and putting on informative presentations. We look forward to continuing to educate our community with future tours!

Durham Early Head Start (EHS) is a free, comprehensive child development and family support program for low-income families with children birth to three years old and to pregnant women. Durham EHS is a collaboration between Durham’s Partnership for Children, Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project and Healthy Families Durham and currently serves 120 children from some of the neediest families in Durham.

The exposure to high-quality programming that these children experience makes a huge difference in their lives. Yet many basic needs for these families are still unmet. Consider sharing resources to help a Durham EHS family celebrate this holiday season. 

Some of the top needs of families include:

• Gas Cards: to provide access to resources in the community 
• Gift Certificate Cards: for basic family needs
• Donation to Taxi Fund ($15-20): to provide transportation to family services not along bus lines
• Booster Seats/Car Seats: to ensure age-appropriate safety in the car 

Donations can be dropped off at the Durham Early Head Start office (1201 S. Briggs Ave., Ste 110, Durham, NC 27703) by December 9th.  For more information contact: Cyndee Nieves, 919-439-7107 or CNieves@durhamehs.org.

Little People Day Care Center, a high-quality child care center in Durham, hosted a community open house on Monday, October 24 to showcase the center’s new outdoor learning environment. The playground renovations are part of NC State’s Natural Learning Initiative in participation with the Durham Early Head Start (EHS) Program.

The purpose of the Natural Learning Initiative is to promote the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children, primarily through environmental design. The newly renovated outdoor learning environment at Little People Day Care Center is designed specifically for infants and toddlers and is one of four planned projects in Durham this fall. The ribbon cutting ceremony for the playground at Early Start Academy will be held on Saturday, November 5th from 10 am to 2 pm. There will be pony rides, a moon bounce, zumba, games, and refreshments to celebrate the grand opening.

Durham EHS is a free, comprehensive child development and family support program for low-income families with children aged birth to three years old and to pregnant women. It is a collaboration between Durham’s Partnership for Children, Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project and Healthy Families Durham.

While Durham is undeniably home to a number of well-equipped parks, recreation areas, nature trails, and community play areas, many of our preschool and early learning outdoor play areas mirror a nationwide trend in which playground equipment has been stripped down to nothing.  Because of an overenthusiastic movement to remove all risk from playgrounds, we have gone overboard in protecting these play habitats. Such protections have left us with many outdoor play areas that simply do not foster learning and curiosity. 

Beyond the typical checklist required for regulated child care centers (including teacher/student ratio, teacher qualifications, and indoor curriculum), additional attention needs to be placed on the outdoors. Children spend several hours in the day playing outside and some of the most exploratory learning often takes place in the natural outdoor environment.  According to Dr. Karen DeBord, retired professor in early childhood and NC extension specialist, there are five main areas of focus for outdoor learning:

1. The physical outdoor environment – Relates to both the context and layout of the physical environment.
2. Interactions - Negotiation, language development, and cooperation are all skills that develop through diverse opportunities that invite children to explore and ask questions.
3. Play and learning settings – Defined spaces such as an active play area, a storytelling circle, sand and water play, a tricycle path, or a vegetable garden.
4. Program – Curriculum that mirrors effective use of outdoors as a learning space.
5. Teacher/caregiver role – Application of knowledge to create effective outdoor programs and to improve the physical environment based on individual child need.

Fortunately, strides are being made locally.  Marking the culmination of a weeklong Durham Early Head Start (DEHS) training, teachers and professionals attended a workshop focusing on this very topic as they prepare to have the playgrounds at their child care centers transformed into rich outdoor learning environments by NC State’s Natural Learning Initiative.  Early childhood consultant Betsy Thigpen shared plans for new outdoor learning environments to be constructed this fall at four DEHS child care centers.  Thigpen was direct about the need to move children outside and highlighted what is being done at local child care centers to give value to the outdoor experience.

Aside from the well-known benefits of outdoor play – such as obesity prevention, learning from sensory experiences, and enhanced school readiness – bringing the learning environment outdoors for young children encourages development, albeit through sometimes “reasonably risky” situations.  The outdoor play space can ignite a child’s learning and imagination in a way that is difficult to replicate in the classroom.  Transformation of these outdoor playgrounds will have far-reaching benefits for the children served.  Check back in for progress on the project’s planning and construction.  These playgrounds will be unique to Durham and should serve as models in the area. 

DEHS is a collaboration between Durham’s Partnership for Children, Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project and Healthy Families Durham. The free, comprehensive child development and family support program is for low-income families with children aged birth to three years old and to pregnant women.  DEHS serves 120 children and their families in two program options: center-based and home-based.