2006 Report to the Community

2007 Report to the Community

Mercer County 05-06 Annual Report for Community Engagement

Early Childhood Council Q & A

Mercer County’s Early Childhood Community Engagement Initiative -
a part of Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children

The Pennsylvania Early Learning Keys to Quality, sponsored by the Department of Public Welfare's Office of Child Development and Early Learning, is a quality improvement program in which all early learning programs and practitioners are encouraged and supported to improve child outcomes.

Through Regional Keys funds are provided to local communities to form Early Childhood Community Engagement Groups (sometimes referred to as the CEG).  These groups are working in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties; Mercer County’s CEG is Our Children, Our Future.  Some of the goals for Community Engagement for 2008-2009 are:

• To develop and implement a community outreach plan to educate and foster relationships with parents, government, businesses, schools, and the early learning community about issues in early learning such as Pennsylvania's Promise for Children, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, Keystone STARS and Child Care Works.
• To be the county point of contact for Pennsylvania's Promise for Children materials.
• To facilitate linkages between school districts, early learning practitioners, and other community stakeholders for the purpose of developing a community action plan to support successful kindergarten transitions.
• To create and distribute a Report Card to the Community detailing the activities, goals, and outcomes of the CEG.
• To appropriately leverage resources and support in the community.
• To work with the Regional Key to implement the Regional Plan that has been created by the Key.

The vision for Our Children, Our Future:   As a result of accessible, quality early care and education experiences all children in Mercer County will have the opportunity to enter kindergarten ready to learn, and then become successful students. 

Our Children, Our Future is led by three Action Teams – School Readiness, Child Care, Early Childhood Outreach.  All interested persons are welcome to join a team.  OCOF Director is Frasier B. Zahniser, extension educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension in Mercer County.