THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505060302
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
The vision of the Pasquotank County Partnership for Children is expressed through the eyes of a child.
The voice of an imagined boy or girl rises from amid the statistics, the jargon and the acronyms in a 55-page ``long-term plan'' submitted to state Smart Start officials last month.
The words are simple and direct, and they say what program officials hope will come from the mouths of all Pasquotank County children as Smart Start touches their lives:
``. . . I think my life and my family are the best. It's great to be a kid in Pasquotank County!''
The statement, part of a paragraph-long vision in the partnership's detailed plan for the coming year, also soon will hang in the partnership office at the Edgewood Center on Parkview Drive.
Since last year, Pasquotank has operated one of the state's 24 Smart Start programs, which grew from Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s initiative to provide health care and child care for all children through age 5.
The plan submitted to the state in late April details spending plans for Pasquotank's first year of full funding, which will bring about $1.2 million in state money for 1995-96.
Seven projects with 14 activities are discussed in the plan, with aims to reduce child-care waiting lists, expand breast-feeding programs and establish resource centers for families and child-care clients.
Smart Start funds will pay the salaries of an outreach nurse, a mental-health specialist and a child-care coordinator; will buy health insurance for 300 children who don't qualify for Medicaid but can't afford private insurance; and will help day-care providers expand their facilities or become registered.
``We're excited,'' said partnership Executive Director Donna James-Whidbee.
``We can't wait to be in the business of implementing some more programs to help children and families.''
The partnership has been operating since last fall, and James-Whidbee came aboard in December. But the program will take off in earnest when the fiscal year starts July 1.
A key to preparing the long-term plan and a series of goals and objectives for the partnership, officials say, is the cooperation among the group's 30-member voting board.
Board members include mandated representatives from several categories, including most child-serving agencies, child-care providers and parents who will be clients of Smart Start services.
``Agency people, business leaders, parents, religious community leaders, and members of the general public have been working for the past nine months on developing a plan to improve the lives of children in Pasquotank County,'' the plan says. ``This type of collaboration has never occurred in Pasquotank County and would likely not have occurred without Smart Start.''
It's a collaboration that did not come easily among agencies that sometimes overlap services or compete for the same customers. But the board has learned to cooperate, James-Whidbee said.
``Sometimes it's hard to look at yourself and realize that you're good, but you're not as good as you could be,'' she said.
``We've gotten past those growing pains.''
Other sources of confusion exist in the toddling project. The partnership has had communication problems with its first contractor, and James-Whidbee spent several minutes on the phone Thursday trying to iron out whose salary was coming from what pool of money.
But board members hope their concern for children and their own brand of cooperation will change children's lives for the better.
``I just think we have a special group,'' said Cynthia Grafton, vice chairwoman of the partnership and chair of the Communications Committee.
``Everything we've done has been unusual.''
Grafton, executive director of the child advocacy center Kids First Inc., also was responsible for the kid-centered vision statement.
``I started thinking about who the target audience was. I mean, who are we trying to please here?'' Grafton said.
``I think it's a real effective statement. . . . It reminds us of what we want to do.'' MEMO: IN THEIR EYES
I feel good because I am healthy and lots of people love me. My
family knows how to take good care of me. They give me lots of hugs and
they play with me and read to me every night. I almost never get sick
'cause I got all my shots, I eat good food, and I go to the dentist
every year. I can go to day care with other kids. There are really good
teachers and I learn neat things there. Me and my friends took a bunch
of tests to see if we needed special help to be ready for school. 'Cause
my family and teachers know what I need and spend time with me, I am
learning to do things all by myself. I think my life and my family are
the best. It's great to be a kid in Pasquotank County!
- A vision for the children of Pasquotank County, by the Pasquotank
County Partnership for Children.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
These are a few of the goals identified by the Pasquotank County
Partnership for Children in its long-term plan, submitted to the state
in April:
All children through age 5 in Pasquotank County will have access to
comprehensive health-care coverage and have an identified primary-care
provider by Jan. 1, 1997.
Nine out of 10 2-year-olds will be immunized by Jan. 1, 1998.
The number of mothers who receive WIC (Women, Infants and Children
assistance) and are breast-feeding their babies will increase by 50
percent by Jan. 1, 1996.
250 new child-care slots will be established by Jan. 1, 1997.
A ``family-friendly'' central information/referral service will be
established by Jan. 1, 1996.
Procedures will be developed by Jan. 1, 1996, to address the needs of
all children who have been identified as abused or neglected.
200 families with children through age 5 will participate in
parenting education activities by July 1, 1996.
A teen parent education task force will be developed by Jan. 1,
1996.
A regularly published source of statistics about the needs of
Pasquotank County children will be developed by Jan. 1, 1996. by CNB