Today is a big day for our Family Resource Center - parents from Cohort 17 completed our Nurturing Parenting Program and have graduated. 

This comprehensive 16-week program is designed for families with children ages 0-5 referred for parenting education by social services agencies and members of the community.

​We enjoyed attending Babies Love Books at the Union Parish Library! This program brings new moms to the library by offering a baby's first library book. The Children's Coalition is proud to provide play-days throughout the year as well as parenting support.

Babies Love Books will be held every Saturday at 10am in the Community Room.

Many thanks to the City of Monroe and Monroe Fire Department for choosing the Children's Coalition as a recipient of school supplies from their August Benevolent Act.

​These supplies will allow Pre-K and Kindergarten students in our Al's Pals program to focus on their education and resiliency skills. ​

The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana has received $200,000 in grants from the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to pilot new strategies to increase access to and improve the quality of publicly funded early childhood care and education. It is one of six communities across the state selected to guide this work.

The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana will do this by building upon the foundation of the existing early childhood community networks in Morehouse and Richland parishes, which are made up of publicly funded early care and education programs.

Each parish was granted $100,000.

The six new Ready Start Networks will spend the next two years developing local governance structures; assessing local demand for early care and education; providing resources and training to teachers to improve classroom quality; implementing fundraising strategies; and sharing their findings with state leaders to inform future policy making.

MORE Early Childhood Community Network will now be called Ready Start Morehouse. 
​RICHNetwork will now be called Ready Start Richland.

The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana has received a $200,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to pilot new strategies to increase access to and improve the quality of publicly funded early childhood care and education. It is one of six communities across the state selected to guide this work.
 
The six communities, called Ready Start Networks, will spend the next two years developing new local governance structures; assessing local demand for early care and education; providing resources and training to teachers to improve classroom quality; implementing fundraising strategies; and sharing their findings with state leaders to inform future policymaking.
 
In Morehouse and Richland parishes the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana will do this by:
Building upon the foundation of the existing early childhood community networks in Morehouse and Richland parishes which are made up of publicly funded early care and education programs. We will invite additional early childhood stakeholders such as parents, business and community leaders from each community to work together to find creative solutions that will improve quality and access to early care and education.
 
“We are honored to be selected as a Ready Start Network for both Richland and Morehouse parishes. We know that learning doesn’t start at age four, in fact learning starts at birth. If we wait to provide early learning opportunities until preschool or kindergarten, we have waited too long because ninety percent of brain development occurs before age four. Therefore, it is essential that we provide quality learning experiences for Infants and Toddlers too.  We are excited to get communities working together to increase opportunities for our youngest learners to thrive and arrive to school ready to start.”
 
To learn more about the Ready Start Community Networks, click here.

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - The Children's Coalition for Northeast Louisiana and Delta Community Action are recipients of grants for the early childhood education pilot program Ready Start Networks.

The Louisiana Department of Education announced the grants this week and awarded the organizations $100,000 for each parish they serve.

The Children's Coalition of Northeast Louisiana will be spearheading these Ready Start Networks in Richland and Morehouse parishes. Delta Community Action Agency will be leading the pilot program in Madison Parish.

The Louisiana Department of Education says the networks are, "coalitions of individuals committed to creating and implementing a bold local vision for early childhood education."

For Delta Community Action, they say that means they'll be able to really get hands-on with the education in their parish. The non-profit says they focus on early education for kids from birth to 5 years old.
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"Research shows that 90% of children from birth to five, their brain is developed during that period," explains Manny Duque, the Operations Director for Delta Community Action. He says that's why it's important to put an emphasis on education at that age.

Intro to Infant and Toddler CLASS training for RICH, MORE, OPEN Networks was held Saturday, July 27th. This is funded by Infant CLASS Supports grant awarded to OPEN, RICH and MORE Networks by Louisiana Department of Education.  A total of 49 Early Childhood Educators from Early Learning Centers in OPEN, RICH and MORE networks attended the training.
 
"Infants and toddlers learn within the context of relationships. Relationships are the pathway to learning. Children learn because of the emotional connection they have with you." - Krystal, trainer from Teachstone

By Dan Copp / Staff Writer, Houma Today

Safety experts are asking parents and guardians to be ready for Louisiana’s new child car seat law that takes effect Thursday.

In June, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the new measure, which aims to better protect child passengers. According to the Louisiana Department of Health, 110 children up to the age of 14 were killed in vehicle crashes over the past three years.
Under the new law, children age 13 and under must be properly restrained in the back seat.

“The big thing with this new law is that the children have to be 13 now instead of 12 before they can ride in the front seat,” said Cynthia Cage, a child safety seat specialist with the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana. “They want you to keep the children rear-facing as long as possible. Overall, it’s making sure that parents are adhering to the height and weight limits on the car seat. Injuries are the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 14, and a lot of that is due to car accidents. Children need to be properly restrained at all times.”
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Under the new law:

• Children 2 and under must ride in rear-facing child safety seats.
• Children at least 2 years old who have outgrown the rear-facing seat by height or weight must ride in a forward-facing safety seat with an internal harness.
• Children ages 4-9 who have outgrown the forward-facing seat with internal harness by weight or height must ride in a booster seat using a lap-shoulder seat belt.
• Passengers ages 9-12 or children who have outgrown the booster seat can ride using a seat belt if they can pass the “Five Step Test.” This means their knees bend at the edge of the seat while their back is against the vehicle seat. The belt fits snugly across the child’s thighs and lower hips and not their abdomen. The shoulder strap should snugly cross the center of the child’s chest and not the neck.
• Any children under 13 must also ride in a back seat when available.