Greetings!
We have just ended our first year of Healthy Start for the Casterlin School geographical area. I am working right now on our first year evaluation that is required by the state and it occurs to me that their are still many folks in the area that are not aware of what Healthy Start is all about. I'll try and give a very brief summary.
Healthy Start is the California Department of Education's attempt to bring services to children, kindergarten through twelfth grade, and to their families. These services would be at or near the school site.
The major thrust of our local initiative is to build a caring community:
Healthy Start funding and collaborative efforts have bought our community van, remodeled and furnished our community center, brought in parenting and adult education classes, provided the BMX track, purchased playground equipment, provided a Youth Service Bureau worker at Casterlin School, hired a Family Support Worker and coordinator, helped families access medical and social services and established a core team at Casterlin school for meeting the academic, medical and emotional needs of children and families by building on their strengths.
In other words, Healthy Start is a little bit of everything and anything!
I've heard people comment that the community center or Healthy Start is just another school thing. That's right! It is a "school thing" because if we have a stronger community our families will become stronger and our children will thrive and be more successful at reaching their full potential. Could anyone object to that?
I'd like to invite everyone in our community to attend our meetings. The Coordinating Team meets on the last Monday of every month. Watch for posters annoucing the time and the agenda. We operate under the consensus model of decision-making and everyone who comes has input.
We have had many partners in our endeavors and I'd like to thank everyone for their support. Read our Honor Roll to see which of your neighbors are already participating in this project. Thank you all for helping our community become a healthy and enriching place for our children to grow up in!
April Wilson