2020: Year In Review

In honor of the First 1000 Days Sarasota’s celebration on December 17th from 2-4PM, Chelsea Arnold, Program Coordinator, reflects on initiative accomplishments over the last year and thanks community partners below.

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It’s All About Relationships

“It’s all about relationships”… From early childhood researchers and educators to community developers and key leaders across the nation, this sentiment is expressed over and over again. To create a resilient child, a supportive and nurturing adult relationship is needed; to help families in the community, authentic and trusting connections must be made; to build an initiative, collaboration and partnerships amongst community organizations is essential. Relationships are the foundation, driving force, and beauty behind the First 1000 Days Sarasota County initiative. Since the inception of the initiative almost 3 years ago, when Kelly Romanoff and Teri Hansen with the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation spearheaded the effort and Bill Little facilitated large community meetings, connections are being made almost every day. The connections are not only improving the lives of families in our community, but providing a sense of comradery amongst the diligent and hardworking professionals.

The growth of the initiative is an enormous milestone itself, as it is now comprised of 70 community organizations and/or programs. Through the initiative, organizations have created partnerships, large systemic barriers have been resolved, priorities have been identified, new workgroups have formed, knowledge about the critical early years has started to saturate in the community, and many professionals have taken on newfound leadership roles. Last year, in the annual survey for First 1000 Days Sarasota County initiative partners, it was found that as a result of the initiative: 65% of service providers were introduced to new organizations, 48% created new partnerships between their organization and another organization, and 40% improved a new service or created a new activity at their organization. Please complete the 2020 Annual Partner Survey here.

Initiative Accomplishments

Parent Empowerment

Understanding how critical the early years are and the significant impact adversity has on health and development, a movement has been started to empower parents to be their child’s first teacher. First 1,000 Days Sarasota has partnered with The Basics, using their five evidence based parenting principles, to spread awareness about brain boosting activities parents can do with their children every day. To spread knowledge to parents in the community, a First 1,000 Days Sarasota parent portal website was developed by Marketing for Change in September 2020. On the portal, parents can learn about brain development, sign up for a free developmental activity text messaging service, and reach out for help through an Assistance Request form. Stay Tuned! The Spanish version of the site is set to launch in Spring to expand our reach. Shout out of appreciation to the Education and Outreach workgroup who was a big part of this process and provided insight to our consultants. To help spread the word about the Parent Portal, please like our Facebook and Instagram accounts and share the posts on your organization’s social media.

Care Coordination

The Unite Us care coordination platform was launched in August 2020, connecting social, medical, and mental health services across Sarasota and Manatee counties. This privacy protected, HIPAA compliant system provides an up-to-date resource directory of programs in our community, easy provider to provider communication, text messaging with clients, and a real-time data dashboard to identify gaps and barriers to care. With over 50 organizations and 85 unique programs at the start of the launch, it speaks to the collaboration and unique partnerships in our community. The network is expanding every week; if you are a non-profit, community based organization, Pediatrician, or OBGYN in Sarasota County and are interested in joining the network, please e-mail Stephanie Harris.

Parents with Lived Experience

To ensure parent voice is woven into every aspect of the initiative, a Parent Advisory Committee was created. Committee members assist with initiative strategy and advocate for other parents in the community. The group meets every other month and thus far has provided guidance on the Social Media campaign, community murals, and initiative marketing strategies. Thank you to all of the parents who are dedicating their time to the initiative, we value your input and feedback. We appreciate Ann Hardy, with Sarasota County Libraries, who volunteers her time to facilitate these meetings.

Integrator Activities/Shared Governance

Over the last year, the First 1000 Days has had strong support and guidance from the newly formed Steering Committee. As some of the initial leaders in the initiative, their historical background and vast community expertise has made them key to disseminate information about the initiative throughout the county and provide strategic oversight. Our current Steering Committee members are: Bill Little, Dr. Kameron Hodgens, Shon Ewens, Dr. Linda Stone (recently rotated off), Kathy Wiegand, Dr. Washington Hill, Michael Drennan, Michelle Kapreilian (chair), Dr. Pam Beitlich, Mary O’Connor, Kelly Romanoff, Teri Hansen, and Jennifer Johnston. We recently added two parents from our Parent Advisory Committee to sit on the Steering Committee; thank you Maria Somera and Brittany Pendarvis. Understanding the value of diverse leadership and new ideas, we look forward to other organizations and parents cycling through the Steering Committee over the upcoming years.

Partner Innovation and Collaboration

Ongoing workgroups have met over the last year to work on barriers in the community. The Client Navigation workgroup assisted with the Unite Us Screening Tool and Assistance Request forms (Chair- Paige Mouchett). The Education and Outreach workgroup focused on ways to promote the initiative and parent portal out into the community (Chair- Nan Morgan). The Professional Development workgroup administered a survey to gauge interest in professional trainings in the areas of Trauma Informed Care, Resilience, Cultural Competence, etc. They are currently working on a plan to bring a leadership training into the community (Co-Chairs- Laura Josephson, Christina Russi, and Jennifer Carey). The Access to Care Workgroup administered a survey to learn about transportation barriers (Kathrine Wiegand, Carla Johanns, Meredith Piazza). The Data Workgroup assisted with the development of a strategic plan and program evaluation for the initiative.

Targeted Interventions, Plan of Safe Care

The First 1000 Days Sarasota has been honored to facilitate a county-wide Plan of Safe Care taskforce. Diverse community experts in the areas of home visiting, substance use treatment and support, child welfare, mental health, child development, and public health gather monthly to develop protocols and policies. The Plan of Safe Care is a Federal mandate; each Florida county is responsible for developing their own unique program. The purpose of the Plan of Safe Care is to identify and support pregnant women with a history of substance use by providing on-going care coordination for the families after the birth until the child is 5 years old. It is meant to be preventative by linking mothers, families, and babies to services in the community to reduce child removals and improve child and family health and well-being. The plan is intended to be created in collaboration with the families, each plan individualized based on their needs. Sarasota County is pioneering an innovative program by partnering with Unite Us to pilot on their care coordination platform. If successful, it is likely Unite Us will use our protocols to replicate in other areas across the country. First 1,000 Days Sarasota also sits on the Florida Plan of Safe Care taskforce, collaborating with and learning from others across the state.

Thank YOU for Changing the Trajectory for Children

Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation and Gulf Coast Community Foundation

The Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation and Gulf Coast Community Foundation continue to find ways to improve the system of care for young families in the community, understanding the power of investing in our youth. They are leaders in the First 1000 Days Steering Committee, continue to convene many community meetings to address large barriers in Sarasota County, and are guiding the marketing and promotional strategy for the First 1000 Days Sarasota Parent Portal website. With the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation as the fiscal agent for the initiative, Kelly Romanoff works hard to fundraise for the initiative by applying for grants and finding unique opportunities to sustain the initiative’s efforts. Murray Devine provides significant marketing support and graphic content development.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital

It is through the dedication to its community, desire to expand partnerships, and robust IT, legal, marketing, and clinical support, that Sarasota Memorial Health Care System was designated as the backbone organization of the initiative. As early childhood advocates themselves, Dr. Pam Beitlich, Executive Director of the Women and Children’s Division, and Mary O’Connor Manager of Community Outreach and Education recognize and preach the value of investing in the community, addressing social determinants of health, and creating lasting partnerships. The hospital legal and IT teams performed a thorough vetting of the Unite Us Care Coordination platform to ensure its safety for organizations in the community, the data systems team created a patient specific dashboard, and marketing (Jennifer Wilson) has supported and been heavily involved in the parent portal and outreach campaign. The hospital has been key to supporting the operations of the initiative and we are grateful to have a healthcare system dedicated to serving the needs of the community.

All Community Partners

The biggest shout out of appreciation is to all of you who continue to be involved, whether through the Steering Committee, on-going community workgroups, working with families, and/or spreading the word about the initiative. Thank you again for committing to change the trajectory for babies by breaking the intergenerational cycle for at risk families in Sarasota. Without the hard work, dedication, and shared vision from all of you, none of the system wide improvements or newly developed partnerships would have been possible. It is with the access to diverse experts and a collaborative effort, that solutions will continue to be made to improve the coordination of services and increase access to care for pregnant women and families with young children in our community. I am thankful that I continue to learn so much through all of you.

Our Promise: Thank you to our Donors!

The initiative will not be stopped until our promise is fulfilled; every baby born in Sarasota County can reach their full potential. Thanks to the generosity and support of philanthropists in our community, Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, Sarasota Memorial Health Care Foundation, Louis and Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, William G. and Marie Selby Foundation, and many private anonymous donors, plans for the future of the initiative are bright!

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November Newsletter: Calls-To-Action