Here's a link to our annual report!

Annual Report 2010 9.2.11.doc

Email your event information to cpywayne@yahoo.com

The Data/Communications Committee will meet December 6th, 2011, at the Richmond Community Schools Administration building at 10:30 am. Call 765-914-5335 for details.

Upcoming Partnership and Committee Meetings:
Committee Chairperson is responsible for notifying committee members of any changes in the schedule date, time, or meeting place.
The Convener is responsible for posting Partnership Meetings and notifying the Partners.

The Countywide Partnership for Youth Bi-monthly meetings for 2011 through June 2012 will be:
January 20, 2012 (due to New Year’s), 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922
March 9, 2012, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922
May 11, 2012, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

The Steering Committee will meet:

December 2, 2011, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

January 13, 2012, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

February 3, 2012, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

March 2, 2012, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

April 13, 2012 (due to Good Friday), 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

May 4, 2012, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

June 1, 2012, 9:00 AM Boys and Girls Club, 1717 S 'L' St Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 966-6922

The Sustainability Committee will meet before the monthly Steering committee meeting:

November 29, 2011, 7:30 am, Richmond Community Schools Administration Bldg, 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond, IN 47374
January 10, 2012, 7:30 am, Richmond Community Schools Administration Bldg, 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond, IN 47374
January 31, 2012, 7:30 am, Richmond Community Schools Administration Bldg, 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond, IN 47374
February 28, 2012, 7:30 am, Richmond Community Schools Administration Bldg, 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond, IN 47374
April 3, 2012, 7:30 am, Richmond Community Schools Administration Bldg, 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond, IN 47374
May 1, 2012, 7:30 am, Richmond Community Schools Administration Bldg, 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond, IN 47374
May 29, 2012, 7:30 am, Richmond Community Schools Administration Bldg, 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond, IN 47374

Kindergarden Readiness meets the first Thursday of each month at the Untied Way Bldg, 129 South 9th St.
Richmond, IN 47374, (765) 962-2700
Scot Quintel is the chairperson

 

Click here to view the SPF-SIG Community Report and the article "Collective Impact" from the Stanford Social Innovation Review

We have an exciting new project for the community called Landscape Mapping!

Here's what it is:

We are going to take a complete, comprehensive look at all the services for youth in our area. Not just education or human services, but other facilities and organizations that impact youth. We're going to find out where these organizations are in the landscape of our community, what they do, and how well they do it. In other words, we're going beyond a survey and we will gather useful information about what our community is doing well, and what we're not doing so well and we can improve on.

Here at CPY we think this will yield a tremendous amount of useful information and knowledge to direct efforts to help the youth in our area. In these troubled economic times we need to make sure that all our resources are being used in the most effective manner. In order to do this, we need your help.

If you receive a survey, please fill it out and get it back to us quickly. Then, tell your friends, associates, business partners, neighbors, and anyone else who will listen that CPY has an exciting new project and we need YOU to help us complete it.

Thanks in advance, and rest assured we will be circulating the results of this landscape map as soon as possible.

Tom P.

CPY Convener

 

The Capacity Building Committee will meet Tuesday, Nov. 22nd, 3:30pm at the RCS administration Building in the office of Kathy Parker.

The focus of the meeting will be to establish a training calendar and an estimated budget for 2012.

Questions? Call Bruce Daggy, 765-962-6922

The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free resource to help you choose programs and polices to improve health and prevent disease in your community. 

Click on the link for more information:  What is the Community Guide.doc

Nettle Creek Article by Joe Backmeyer 

Early Childhood Education Article by Kathy Parker

Palladium-Item Guest Editorial                                                                                November 7, 2011 

Dr. Kathy Parker, Director of the Office of Student Achievement, Richmond Community Schools

 Early Childhood Education:  The key to developing successful students and building a strong economy

 Our nation is facing an issue of epic proportion and critical importance.  This issue affects our economy, reduces the competiveness of our workforce, and challenges our highest ideals.  This issue is America’s early childhood literacy crisis.

 In cities across America, children, especially those from low-income families, are entering kindergarten without the basic early literacy skills needed for lifelong success.  The reality is that most children entering kindergarten lacking these important skills do not catch up with their peers in subsequent years.  There is overwhelming academic consensus that birth through age five is the time when a child’s brain is undergoing the most growth and development.  The developing brain triples in the first year alone and is virtually fully formed by the time a child enters kindergarten, setting the foundation for lifelong learning. 

 Nearly 20% of children under the age of five in Indiana are living in poverty.  Thus, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that 17% of Indiana’s third graders aren’t reading at grade level.  Most of these kids started behind and, as hard as they and those who attempted to help them tried, never could catch up.

 Fortunately, research has given us strong evidence on what strategies work to ensure that all children are prepared to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.  Among these is access to high quality early childhood education programs. 

 Richmond Community Schools, as a member of the Countywide Partnership for Youth (CPY), is committed to support of the CPY Youth Development Plan (YDP).  One of the indicators of progress toward the overall goals of the YDP is for “the importance of early childhood development to be recognized in all school corporations.”

 Despite the fact that Indiana is one of ten states that provide no state funding for preschool, Richmond Community Schools has provided quality early childhood education programming since the 2004-2005 school year, when the Early Learning and Family Literacy Center was opened.   Working from the overarching goal that all children should have access to quality preschool programming, services have since been expanded to include preschool classrooms at four additional elementary sites.  All of the RCS preschool programs provide a well-rounded, developmentally appropriate curriculum with an intense focus on literacy. 

 Consistent with the research on the impact of early childhood education, local data suggest that the positive impact is both significant and long-lasting.  Students enrolled in the RCS preschool program for one year or more, as a group, demonstrate a higher passing rate on measures of reading foundational skills at the beginning of kindergarten.  Further, these effects are still in place through the end of third grade, where the passing rate on ISTEP+ of students enrolled one or more years in the RCS preschool program is higher than the passing rate of the grade level as a whole.

 The Board of School Trustees of Richmond Community Schools is to be commended for its continued support of early childhood education despite the lack of state funding, and in light of the looming financial deficit.  In order to ensure the future prosperity of Indiana, we must value early childhood education not just with words, but with actions.  We need to increase public and private investments in these proven strategies to ensure that all children start school with the skills they need for success.  Our children deserve it; our economy requires it.