A New Chapter Starts with a New Year!
As the year 2021 ends, we are grateful for the continued partnerships with professionals and parents across the region. The work that we do would not be possible without the many tireless advocates in our community.
The First 1,000 Days Suncoast team is ecstatic for a new year ahead and continued growth amongst families and community organizations. Below we share our plans for 2022, new Steering Committee members, professional development opportunities, a partner spotlight, calls-to-action, and free community partner events.
Plans for 2022
Together, with fabulous partners, the initiative has lofty plans for the upcoming year. We welcome you to contact us at first1000days@smh.com to learn more about any of the following plans and activities.
Build Regional Parent Advisory Committee
Circuit 12 Plan of Safe Care Community Meetings (Plan of Safe Care Taskforce)
Launch Plant, Grow, Bloom campaign (Education & Outreach Workgroup)
Explore additional professional training and support opportunities (Professional Development Workgroup)
Spread awareness about Perinatal Mental Health Support Services (Access to Care Workgroup)
Improve navigation for families in the community with Community Stations and by responding to Assistance Requests (First 1,000 Days team)
Host a First 1,000 Days Suncoast Summit in Fall 2022
Hold community parent focus groups
Unite Us 18-month report
First 1,000 Days 3-Year Report
Steering Committee Members
New Members
In December, First 1,000 Days welcomed new leaders to the initiative’s Steering Committee. These members, from Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, and Charlotte counties will be instrumental in providing strategic guidance and alignment with the initiative expansion:
Nathan Scott
Circuit 12 Child Welfare Policy Coordinator
Florida Department of Health Sarasota County
Dr. Lisa Abello, MD
Pediatrician and Chief Medical Officer
CenterPlace Health
Angie Matthiesen
Executive Director
United Way Charlotte County
Katie Powers
MoMMs Place
Manatee Memorial Hospital
MJ Horen
Chief Program Officer
All Faiths Food Bank
Luz Corcuera
Executive Director
Unidos Now
Thank you to our former committee members for their contribution to the initiative over the last two years: Teri Hansen, Micheal Drennan, Melissa Parker, Dr. Washington Hill, and Jennifer Johnston. Their wisdom and support of the initiative has been instrumental to its success thus far.
New Chair
Dr. Kameron Hodgens, CEO of Glasser Schoenbaum Health & Human Services Center, is the newly appointed Chair of the Steering Committee. In addition to being a tireless advocate for professionals and families, Dr. Hodgens has expertise in networking, partner engagement, research, and child development. She has been on the Steering Committee for the last two years and looks forward to this newfound leadership role in the region.
Thank you to our former chair Michelle Kapreilian, CEO of Forty Carrots Family Center. Michelle has been significantly influential to the initiative since the very beginning and her leadership as the chair of the Steering Committee helped build its solid governance structure.
For a full list of current committee members please click here.
Trauma Informed Care Community Training
“I am thankful that this issue is being addressed in our community. -”
The 3-part Resilient Retreat Trauma Informed Care series for non-clinical professionals was incredibly successful! There were over 110 participants in the first two sessions and over 70 in the third. 100% of participants found the workshop to be helpful and said they would recommend it to others. Resilient Retreat provided a brief overview on the impacts of trauma; but what set these sessions apart from others was the real-life application and tools to support families and reduce compassion fatigue.
Clinical professionals can now register for the 3-part clinical series webinar, CLICK HERE to sign up!
1.0 continuing education credit, per each class, will be provided. Clinical staff include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, PAs, social workers, etc.
Partner Spotlight
A warm welcome to our new bilingual volunteer, Andrea, who helps with translation and parent engagement at First 1,000 Days community stations!
Andrea was born in Mexico where she completed her BS in communications. She then traveled to Boston to fulfill her MBA with a concentration in finance and raise her 4 children, before moving down to Florida. Andrea’s work experience has been in banking, education and now she is a full-time realtor with Michael Saunders in Sarasota. She is dedicated to helping people in the community and has volunteered at many places over the years. She taught parents English and participated in parent-child classroom dynamics at Head Start; facilitated budget management workshops for low-income families at Budget Buddies; provided respite help at Tidewell; and assists teachers by giving individual instruction to students at RISE.
We are so fortunate to have connected with Andrea and thankful for the time she commits to our initiative and community!
First 1,000 Days Emergent Learning Webinar
Join First 1,000 Days and Sherry Immediato, a founding practitioner in the field of organizational learning, for a discussion on Emergent Learning on January 12th from 9-10:30am via Zoom. CLICK HERE to register for the event!
Emergent Learning is a systematic approach to use existing challenges and opportunities and develop solutions through learning and evaluation. This process involves the identification of challenges, implementation of a new a strategy, then learning from each cycle of action with the understanding that each wave of new experiences builds insights from one to the next, thus resulting in more effective results.
Calls-To-Action
Please CLICK HERE to complete the Annual partner survey! Information will be used to develop priorities, identify ways to help further support community organizations, and celebrate partnerships! Five randomly selected participants will receive a $25 gift card to Target.
Join a workgroup. If you are interested in joining one of our community workgroups, please contact first1000days@smh.com.
Become a Unite Us user. Unite Us is a comprehensive care coordination platform connecting medical, mental health, and social services. Register to attend an Information Session by clicking here or e-mail our Community Engagement Manager, Stephanie Harris, at stephanie.harris@uniteus.com to learn how your organization can become part of the network. If you are a parent and are looking for help getting connected with services, please click here to fill out an Assistance Request form and our team will get back to you in 1-2 business days.
Upcoming Partner Events
Mothers Helping Mothers
January 30th: KIDS Rock Concert: Come join MHM for good food, music, fun and a live & silent auction to benefit local families in need! If you would like to donate, sponsor or buy a VIP table, please contact MHM!
*If your organization has any news or events they would like to share, please e-mail to the First 1,000 Days team.