Durham County's Early Childhood Faith Initiative is a collaborative initiative between Durham’s Partnership for Children and End Poverty Durham’s Birth to 5 Work Group led by Pastor Mel Williams of Watts Baptist Church and Ann Stock, a community volunteer. In 2009, the Partnership and End Poverty Durham raised more than $15,000 from the faith community in response to A.J. Fletcher Foundation’s Challenge Grant to support an early childhood faith coordinator.
Over two years, End Poverty Durham volunteers in collaboration with the Partnership and Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy’s Durham Family Initiative (DFI), surveyed 49 congregations across different faiths in Durham County on how they support families with young children and what kinds of resources they would require to increase support for families with young children.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
» 2012 LUNCH & LEARN SESSIONS:
February 7, 2012: Jeff Quinn, MPH, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, "Getting Fathers Involved with Young Children"
PAST EVENTS:
» LUNCH & LEARN SESSIONS, coordinated by the Faith Initiative Coordinator in 2011. The following sessions were held:
February 22, 2011: Kate Gallagher, Director, Frank Porter Graham‘s Family and Child Care Program, “Early Development: Brain, Language, & Social-Emotional”
March 22, 2011: Cindy Riley, Parent Educator, Welcome Baby, “Turning No into a Yes: Positive Communications with Young Challenging Children”
May 10, 2011: Anna Berkeley, Inclusion Consultant, Durham Inclusion Support Services, “Welcoming Children with Autism to Faith Classrooms”
A DCIA mini-grant was greatly appreciated and very successfully used to implement our Lunch & Learn goal: For Faith educators & Children/Family Ministers to increase their understanding and knowledge of working with birth to five and to reach out to the underserved birth to five population.
September 27, 2011: Ted Whiteside, MSW, Durham's Partnership for Children, “Child Abuse and Congregations”
October 11, 2011: George (Tripp) Ake, PhD, Center for Child and Family Health, "How Child Abuse and Trauma Impacts Early Development"
November 8, 2011: Winnie Morgan, Faith Initiative Coordinator, Durham's Partnership for Children, “How Congregations Can Reduce Holiday Stress for Families with Young Children”
» Faith in Our Future
On May 6, 2010 the Partnership and End Poverty Durham hosted a breakfast for Durham's Faith Community, "Faith in Our Future: Congregations and Birth to 5," at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Durham to engage more of Durham's faith leaders to consider the importance of supporting young children and their families.
Rev. James Horton, a Board Member with the North Carolina Partnership for Children, delivered the keynote address.
Click here to view Rev. Horton's keynote address.
RESOURCES
For a better understanding of the Faith Initiative and tips on how your congregation can support the underserved birth to five population in our community, look at this publication:
•• Faith in Our Future: Congregations and Children Birth to Age 5. [
Spanish version]
End Poverty Durham
The Early Childhood Faith Initiative Report: Supporting Our Families
Bonding with your Baby
CONGREGATIONS & EARLY CHILDHOOD
Newsletter from the Early Childhood Faith Initiative
January 2012 NewsletterDecember 2011 NewsletterNovember 2011 NewsletterSeptember/October 2011 NewsletterAugust 2011 NewsletterJune 2011 NewsletterMay 2011 NewsletterApril 2011 NewsletterMarch 2011 NewsletterFebruary 2011 NewsletterJanuary 2011 NewsletterDecember 2010 NewsletterNovember 2010 NewsletterOctober 2010 NewsletterSeptember 2010 NewsletterAugust 2010 Newsletter
Contact
Contact Winnie Morgan at winniewmorgan@juno.com or or at 919-732-1524 for more information or to request a speaker at a faith-related event.
Funding: The Faith Initiative is supported by donations from individuals, multiple local congregations, through Duke's Community Care Fund, as well as the Mary Duke Biddle and the Walmart Foundation.