Don't Wait - Vaccinate: A Community Guide

This guide provides suggested activities and recommendations for involving parents/caregivers and health care providers in efforts to raise immunization rates. There is a companion Immunization Awareness Kit that contains sample education materials designed to enhance or accompany many of the materials in this guide. The guide addresses assessing community needs, identifying your objectives and resources, selecting activities to enhance your program, and working collaboratively with other community organizations, businesses, and the media. The appendix includes a sample program plan, selected readings, and government resources.

Available From:
National Immunization Program
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Immunization Information Line
1-800-232-2522 English
1-800-232-0233 Spanish

A Foundation Training Guide for the Head Start Learning Community Effective Transition Practices: Facilitating Continuity

Developed by Aspen Systems Corporation for the Head Start Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, Department of Health and Human Services. This Foundation Training Guide is the first in a series of training guides related to transition practices for Head Start programs. This guide is designed to facilitate a broader understanding of the elements of effective transition and the roles of individual staff members in facilitating continuity.

Module 1 - Transition and Change

As a result of completing this module, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate the impact of transitions on individuals and how they are helped by various internal and external supports;
• Identify the stages of the change process experienced during transition and the factors that influence the ability to cope with changes;
• Develop effective transition practices to address the individual and developmental needs of children and families who are adapting to expected and unexpected changes in routines, roles, environments, and relationships; and
• Develop strategies to involve all staff in continuously supporting children and families as they experience transition.

Module 2 - Transition and Continuity

As a result of completing this module, participants will be able to:

• Define and understand the concepts of continuity and discontinuity;
• Identify the roles of senders and receivers in facilitating continuity throughout the transition process;
• Identify key partners and develop strategies for carrying out individual roles as both senders and receivers; and
• Facilitate continuity for individual children and families by providing supports and opportunities that build on developmental experiences, family strengths, and established support systems.

Module 3 - Partnerships for Continuity

As a result of completing this module, participants will be able to:

• Identify the common goals that early childhood professionals and parents share in supporting transitions from one setting to another;
• Determine goals and strategies to develop effective transition practices and facilitate continuity;
• Identify the strengths and resources that partners can contribute to achieve common goals; and
• Develop strategies for networking with key partners.

The section on Continuing Professional Development includes resources for educational conferences, educational associations, and internet resources. The Informational Resources chapter is designed to be used in conjunction with the training modules. There are digests summarizing each topic, profiles of model programs, and a variety of hands-on activities.

Available from:
Head Start Management Center
Fax your request to: (703) 683-5769

A Foundation Training Guide for the Head Start Learning Community Building Supportive Communities

Developed by the National Alliance of Business for the Head Start Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, Department of Health and Human Services.

This Foundation Guide is the first in a series of training guides related to social services for Head Start programs. The guide builds a foundation for creating a community of support for families and staff. Activities in this guide encourage participants to explore the definition of community and issues of family diversity. The guide offers suggestions for becoming a stronger community within the Head Start program as well as assuming a leadership role within the broader community of family support.

Module 1 - What is Community?

As a result of completing this module, participants will:

• Know why it is important for families to experience a "strong sense of community";
• Interact with families in a manner that demonstrates interest and learning more about them and encourages their involvement in the Head Start community;
• Carry out practices that show acceptance of diversity in family structures, values, and lifestyles; and
• Contribute to Head Start’s capacity to strengthen families by reinforcing family support values, goals, and practices in their work.

Module 2 - Strengthening the Head Start Community

As a result of completing the module, participants will:

• Acknowledge their own strengths and use them as strategies for supporting families;
• Interact with others in a manner that "draws out" their strengths and helps them see themselves from a perspective of strengths;
• Identify staff strengths and resources and incorporate them into efforts to support families; and
• Include families in a team approach to assessment and support activities.

Module 3 - Connecting with the Broader Community

As a result of completing this module, participants will:

• Demonstrate attentive listening skills;
• Establish partnerships with families aimed at increasing their participation in community life;
• Interact with families in a manner that encourages them to take active roles in the community’s family support efforts; and
• Collaborate with others in the development and implementation of plans aimed at supporting and strengthening families.

The section on Continuing Professional Development includes ideas for developing individualized plans for growth, establishing peer support groups for supervisors, learning from other family centered programs, and increasing cultural competency. The Resource section provides a recommended readings as a prerequisite for the guides learning activities.

Available from:
Head Start Publications Management Center
Fax your request to: (703) 683-5769

Starting Points: Meeting the Goals of Our Youngest Children (1994) - The Report of the Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children

This report resulted from the three-year effort of the Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children (a team drawn from the nation’s leaders in the fields of business, education, health, child development, and law) to provide a framework of scientific knowledge and to offer a practical agenda to ensure the healthy development of children from before birth to age three. The Task Force’s findings and conclusions are supported with extensive data, which makes this document an invaluable resource for researchers and grant-writers.

The report clearly states that the nation’s infants and toddlers and their families are in trouble. Infants’ emotional and physical development are more rapid and vulnerable to environmental influence than was previously known, yet negative factors such as poverty, neglect, and family violence continue to increase dramatically. Although researchers have thoroughly documented the importance of the pre- and postnatal months and the first three years of life, there remains a wide gap between scientific knowledge and social policy. Changes in the structure of families and the economy coupled with a lack of affordable health and child care have made it increasingly difficult for parents to adequately provide for their young children.

This report identifies four key areas that must be addressed if the declining quality of life for infants and young children is to be reversed, and it offers specific actions for each:

• Promoting Responsible Parenthood;
• Guaranteeing Quality Child Care Choices for Infant and Toddler Care;
• Ensuring Good Health Protection for Women and Families with Infants and Toddlers;
• Mobilizing Communities to Support Young Children and Their Families.

Available from:
Carnegie Corporation of New York
437 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Together We Can: A Guide for Crafting a Profamily System of Education and Human Services (1993)
Atelia I. Melaville and Martin J. Blank with Gelareh Asayeh

This report was developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services as a practical resource for communities seeking to improve the coordination of education and health delivery programs. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration among members of the community and the agencies who serve them. The report identifies four important ways in which the current education and health delivery system falls short:

1. Services are crisis oriented, designed to address problems after they occur rather than to prevent them.
2. The current social welfare system divides the problems of children and families into rigid categories and fails to the recognize the often interrelated causes and effects.
3. The current system lacks effective communication and cooperation among its various public and private agencies and thereby fails to meet the needs of children and families.
4. Agencies are currently over-specialized and are unable to craft comprehensive solutions.

Working from these identified problems, this report proposes a set of characteristics that a profamily system must have and offers a detailed five-stage process for community members to follow to reach their goals. Numerous samples and anecdotes of successful and unsuccessful programs illustrate the process. In addition, the report offers an in-depth analysis of four programs, each of which is working to meet its profamily goals in a distinctive and effective way. This publication’s appendices include a checklist for the five-stage process and a directory of organizational contacts and resources.

Available from:
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Educational Research and Improvement

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