CBEL’s Collective Impact Initiatives and a Closer Look at One of Them

Written by Tim Buckley, February 2023

The MPELH’s Mission & Goals - to read more, visit Home - Marion & Polk Early Learning Hub, Inc.

The success of CBEL’s multi-year BCR (Building Community Resilience) efforts relies on the strength of three equally important elements: the neighborhood councils, a commitment to equity, and a trio of community Collective Impact Initiatives.  

Neighborhood Family Councils in both the Hallman and Kennedy neighborhoods have strongly stated their need for local resources to address housing insecurity and economic issues related to their families. Data from educational sources also points to a need for academic support for children entering kindergarten.

In the strong triangle between CBEL and the neighborhoods, we have three local nonprofits: the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance, the Fostering Hope Initiative, and the Marion & Polk Early Learning Hub. In tandem, contributing overlapping resources, we call them our Collective Impact Initiatives.  In future newsletters, you’ll learn more about each of them, and how they work directly with families at the neighborhood level. This article features one, whose purpose is to build academic achievement in Marion and Polk counties.

“We have a regional approach but our partnership with CBEL and the Neighborhood Family Councils allows us to go deeply into specific neighborhoods like Hallman and Kennedy.”

The Marion & Polk Early Learning Hub is one of 16 such hubs in the state. “One of our objectives is to improve kindergarten readiness for the area’s highest risk students,” said Lisa Harnisch, Executive Director of the nonprofit.

“We have a regional approach but our partnership with CBEL and the Neighborhood Family Councils allows us to go deeply into specific neighborhoods like Hallman and Kennedy. We met a lot of parents last summer at the Fun Friday events at Northgate Park, and their interest blossomed into participation.”

Lisa Harnisch, Marion & Polk Early Learning Hub Executive Director

National and state statistics show that a big academic gap exists between young “at risk” children entering kindergarten and their peers who come with fewer economic and social challenges. Unless that gap is closed in the earliest academic years, it never closes, resulting in a lifetime of fewer opportunities and less money. Conversely, if that gap is narrowed in primary grades, the person’s learning and earning curve quickly mirrors that of their peers.

Harnisch, who also serves on CBEL’s Executive Council, said that the Early Learning Hub model relies on parents becoming closely involved in their children’s education. “Parents are the child’s first teachers, from birth, so it makes sense to invest in helping them be better teachers,” she said. The curriculum, called Ready! For Kindergarten is designed by the Children’s Reading Foundation, in Washington State.

The curriculum contains materials and learning toys for each year approaching kindergarten, from infant to five. Parents and caregivers attend a series of workshops each year, based on their child’s age. They learn new skills and helpful tips to nurture children’s development in ways that foster academic achievement. They’re also coached in how they can use their personality and behavior to boost children's motivation, perseverance, and enjoyment in learning.

Parents bring home the curriculum and learning toys. Their training, ongoing support from Early Learning Hub staff, and curriculum materials stimulates more opportunities for interaction between the parent and children, through movement, play, exploration, verbal and nonverbal communication, and the use of the five senses - sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste.

As youngsters age, the curriculum becomes more complex, and their learning at each new step is noted. Parents become more proficient and confident as they guide children toward new milestones in language, literacy, math, and social skills.  Thus, by the time the children enter kindergarten, they will score highly in all areas; in other words, an experienced and enthusiastic learner.  Harnisch said that achievement along the way is carefully monitored at the Early Learning Hub, and that School District staff measure the narrowing gap.

In the past year, more than 40 families participated in the Ready! for Kindergarten training and began teaching their children in three age groups: three, four and five years old. Almost half of the parents were from the Hallman neighborhood.

“For those who took our training and used it at home, many said that it changed the way in which they interact and play with their kids,” Harnisch added.

Gladys Plancarte, one of the newly trained parents from Hallman said, " Ready! for Kindergarten is fascinating! It’s empowering me as a parent, in teaching me how to help my kiddos excel for when they go into kindergarten."

As CBEL expands its partnership with the Kennedy Neighborhood Family Council and others, the demand for this curriculum will generate a need for more trainers at the Marion & Polk Early Learning Hub. “It’s gratifying to have Mountain West Investment be a partner to CBEL’s work, and as the program grows, we will be looking for other business partners willing to make the same kind of investment,” Harnisch added.