“Love. Talk. Play.” Inland Northwest Early Learning Alliance

o Our primary audiences include: Rural communities, specifically the Tri-County region, tribes and continued emphasis on teen parents.

o Biggest success in 2013: Finding paths to reaching teen parents and engaging them in multiple activity-based “Love. Talk. Play.” sessions. We saw engagement by teen dads as well as moms and found they were really connecting the dots.

o Biggest challenge in 2014: We anticipate that working with rural communities will be a challenge simply because of the distance. Additional, this focus will require engaging new partners who are less familiar with our coalition’s work.

o Top partners in “Love. Talk. Play.”: Spokane County Library District, Rural Resources, Libraries of Stevens County.

o Anticipated takeaways from meeting: Ideas from other coalitions that can be applied directly to outreach.

Regional name: Northeast

Our Primary Audience for 2014: Families living within the remote and rural areas of our region. We will continue providing Play and Learn Groups, work with more home visiting organizations and pilot a grocery store project.

Biggest Success: Utilizing existing coalition partners to disperse materials and incorporate the message into their work.

Biggest Challenge: The planning of our Play and Learn groups. Identifying a trained early learning professionals to serve as a group facilitator for a short term project was difficult in a remote and rural area. Identifying the location/host was more difficult than anticipated as well. In areas with limited organizations and resources available, it can be a challenge to add additional programming.

Top LTP Partners: Lutheran Community Services Northwest, local libraries and health departments

Hope for Today’s Meeting: Get new ideas for spreading the “Love. Talk. Play. message.

Regional name: Olympic-Kitsap Peninsulas

West Central Regional CoalitionVisions for Early Learning

Biggest SuccessLove. Talk. Play. events were held at each county level at least once yearly in addition to materials and resources being available to partners and coalitions around our region for use with low income families.

Biggest ChallengeOur play and learn groups struggle with connecting and expanding to less served populations and programs in our counties without the structure of a curriculum, dedicated staff trained to use the materials, and consistent participant attendance.

Our Primary Audiences for 2014All low-income families with a special emphasis on serving low-income Spanish speaking families living in the five county area.

Top LTP PartnersTimberland Regional Library and ECEAP/Head Start

Hopes for Today’s MeetingA clearer vision to bring back to our local coalitions as to how materials can and should be used and how success can be measured.

Regional name: West Central

One Team…Helping all students realize their dreams and aspirations…We are ESD 123!

Regional name: Southeast

• Our Primary Audience for 2014: At-risk, monolingual Latino and teen parents with children ages birth to 3.

• Biggest Success: Establishing partnerships with existing organizations and programs, who are already serving our target market and are able to provide our message, materials and training through the use of trusted messengers.

• Biggest Challenge: Ensuring that program partners have a commitment to the message and that our target market receives a repetitive message through home visits and program related activities.

• Top LTP Partners:• Benton-Franklin County Health Department - Nurse Family Partnership • Community Action Committee (CAC) – Home Visitation Program• Head Start of Benton and Franklin Counties – Early Head Start Program

/Inspire Migrant Early Head Start

• Hope for Today’s Meeting: Discuss and share with other LTP Coordinators successes and challenges, effective models for impact, and ideas.

Our Primary Audience for 2014: Our priority population remains the same for the coming year with a focus on connecting with parents and caregivers of children birth to three with special needs – by our regional definition, include physical disabilities, developmental delays, special health care needs, victims of trauma and poverty. 

Biggest Success: For a press release, a local dad shared his experiences with “Love. Talk. Play.” through the Fit Fathers, Successful Families, Inside & Out program (and other local supports) that changed his life for the better as part of the 2013 Spring Campaign Media push.

Biggest Challenge: There is an interest in joining the focus on Teen Parents in our area. Finding suitable channels to engage teen parents has been a challenge. Moving forward we have identified opportunities at the local alternative high school and Wenatchee Young Lives, a ministry to teen moms and their children in the Wenatchee Valley since 2009.

Top LTP partners: North Central ESD Early Childhood (ESIT)Family Services of Grant CountyOkanogan County Child Development Association

Hope for Today’s Meeting: Meet and become acquainted with Thrive LTP Staff and Regional LTP leads, and learn about what the LTP campaign looks like across the state.

Regional name: North Central

Love. Talk. Play. Initiative2013 Goals: Connect Love. Talk. Play messaging and materials with county-based parenting education opportunities, including Play and Learn groups & I-LABS presentations.

2014 Goal: For the year to come, we intend to employ a “snowballing” method to collect information about where parents gather (i.e. FFN Play and Learn) and then reach out to those parent groups with L.T.P. materials and messaging. The LTP campaign will be a strong support as our coalition works to improve communication to families about parenting education and support.

2013 Successes: • I-LABS presentations for parents

AND early learning practitioners well attended & reviewed

• Great venues for introducing Love. Talk. Play. to a broad audience. LTP well received.

2013 Challenges: • Few coordinated/defined/formal meeting

opportunities for parents in NWEL region. • Attempts to meet parents where they

congregate were difficult but necessary for better understanding our FFN population.

Regional name: Northwest

Primary AudienceMilitary & Homeless Families

Biggest SuccessBuilding relationships with military programs

Biggest ChallengeSustained interactions over time

Top PartnersNew Parent Support Program at JBLM & A Step Ahead of Pierce County

What we are hoping to getLearn from others

Regional name: Pierce County

Investing in Children Coalition: South Central Washington

Our Primary Audience for 2014: Those served through the Kaleidoscope Play & Learn Program which includes families that are homeless, in transitional housing &/or food insecure and Family, Friend & Neighbor (FFN) Caregivers.

Biggest Success: Connecting “Love. Talk. Play.” to an existing successful program and adding a universal developmental screening component.

Biggest Challenge: Capturing data for our reports to Thrive by Five to accurately reflect the great work happening.

Top LTP Partners: o Catholic Family & Child Service/Child Care Awareo Memorial Hospitalo ICC Developmental Screening Workgroup

Hope for Today’s Meeting: Learn what others are doing around the state and to refresh our focus and commitment to “Love. Talk. Play.”

Regional name: Central

* Our Primary Audience for 2014: Play and Learn Groups. This is the same population we focused on in 2013.* Biggest Success: Through the use of trusted messengers, embedding the LTP messaging into pre-existing services and resources that families are accessing in our communities. * Biggest Challenges: Since all of our counties border Oregon, we have limited media out of Washington. This continues to be a challenge for our coalition, especially with Love.Talk.Play. * Top Love.Talk.Play Partners: Clark County Public Health, Fort Vancouver Regional Library* Hope for Today’s Meeting: Hopefully we can gain some new ideas for how to engage people in the LTP message for 2014! Ideas for what has been successful in other regions and what other regions plan on accomplishing for 2014

Southwest Washington Early Learning Regional Coalition

Regional name: Southwest

In 2013 Love.Talk.Play touched the life of 3000+ Families in King County…

What is/are your coalition's primary "Love. Talk. Play." audience(s) for 2014?

Continue outreach and education/ partner with CBO, Service providers, Bilingual/Bicultural

Families and FFN

What has been your biggest "Love. Talk. Play." success in the past year?

-Promotion and parent understanding about the importance of their interactions with children

during first years

-Promoting/having meaningful conversations w/ families/extended family members/FFNs about the

importance of the first years (birth to five) in a child’s healthy development.

What is your biggest challenge this year?

-Coordinating efforts with other programs

Who are your top partners in "Love. Talk. Play." work? (List up to three.)

-Informal bilingual/Bicultural groups in the community-SOAR Partners-Play and Learn

What are you hoping to get from this Feb. 26 meeting?

-LTP Updates/Learn from other Coalitions Regional name: King County