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City Platform Section II, Step 1:
"Work with local United Ways and other community groups to prepare educational kits offering tips for new parents in the most commonly spoken languages, and distribute them through local hospitals and physicians."
Parents are the most critical influence on the healthy and positive development of a young child. By ensuring that new parents receive the information and support to do all that they can - at home and in their communities - to foster early childhood success, city officials can improve long-term outcomes for young people in their communities.
City Examples
Chicago, Ill.
In the Fall of 2003, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, in partnership with the Irving Harris Foundation and a national organization called Civitas, launched a citywide public awareness campaign called "Born Learning" to make sure every parent understands the fundamentals of healthy child development.
In addition to public messages and materials available all over Chicago - on buses, trains and public access cable channels, and in parks, libraries, schools and museums - the city also worked to develop Born Learning packets that could be distributed to every new mother in the city. These packets include information such as when young children need to get shots, what to do if a baby has a fever, how to breast-feed, how to tell if a child is developing properly from year to year, and how to cultivate a love of learning in children through daily activities.
The city now distributes an estimated 50,000 packets a year containing the birth certificate and information on child development to mothers who might otherwise not have it.
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Charleston, S.C.
In 2005, Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley spearheaded a county-wide dialogue about the need for local municipalities to support community-based early literacy and parent support services. The Director of the Mayor's Office for Children, Youth, and Families has also been an active member of the local United Way's Success by 6 coalition and helped create a new effort through this coalition called: Partners Realizing Opportunities to Promote Early Learning (PROPEL).
As part of PROPEL, the city collaborated with the public library, public health department, and local children's hospital to launch a Born to Read campaign through which prospective and new parents will receive "welcome baby" kits that encourage parents to read to their new baby.
Charleston has also initiated a Born Learning campaign, including written parenting materials and public service announcements, and numerous early literacy efforts. Charleston is receiving technical assistance on this effort from NLC's YEF Institute.
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Resources
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