The community of Thedford, population 211, lives inside one of the 11 Nebraska counties that were classified as a child care desert when they began partnering with the C4K initiative in 2023. The entirety of the county had no licensed child care at all, and residents were worried their town was dying. They applied for American Rescue Plan/LB1014 funding, and as soon as they got their notice of award, got right to work.
“Give a group of moms a problem that impacts their children and they will get it done,” say Karen O’Hare, President of the board for the Ainsworth Child Development Center. The Ainsworth community came together to serve the local need for childcare.
Rooted in Relationshsips offered Pyramid Model training to South Omaha early childhood professionals entirely in Spanish, translated materials and resources, and emphasized a neighborhood approach that encouraged community ownership of the work being done. Stacy Scholten says they held planning meetings and provider collaboration meetings in Spanish, as well as conducting training and coaching in Spanish. And because the Rooted’s name didn’t translate well into Spanish, they instead collaborated with the local group to call the project, Cultivando Generaciones Futuras.
Rooted in Relationships now faces an existential moment: what will the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation initiative that celebrated its first 10 years in 2023 look like without the woman who started it all?
Janelle Nissen has been involved with Nebraska Growing Readers since it began in 2023 when Laura Cady began working closely with Indian Hill as a test site for writing books and family engagement. Thanks to Nissen and Cady, it has since been a forerunner in hosting literacy events for the program. As Nissen puts it, “NGR hits our mission of that two-generational home-to-school connection as well as getting books in the home.” What Nissen is doing is building a literacy community.
This year, Million and 3 other state-level representatives from Rooted in Relationships were able to attend as well as 3 staff from the Munroe-Meyer Institute, the evaluation group for Rooted’s work. In addition, each Rooted in Relationships community sent at least 2 representatives, including coaches, coordinators, and providers.
Both Kim Chase and Amy Standley agree on a very specific detail about Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR) books: they fit well in small hands. While this may seem minor, it means that the children these early childhood professionals work with are holding the books, looking at the colorful pictures, identifying what they see; such moments are the early literacy moments NGR strives for.
The Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR) program, which is a collaboration between Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, the Nebraska Department of Education, the Statewide Family Engagement Center, and Unite for Literacy, has aimed primarily at providing free books for licensed childcare providers who can share them with their families, but the books have also been distributed to other organizations where children and families can access them. Al-Hindi said he learned of the program in December of 2023 when Nghia Le, the Director of the Learning Center, showed him the books, which they thought could be useful for the adults in ESL classes to use.
With trust and local ownership, has come a sincere interest in the work Rooted in relationships is doing and a desire to sustain that work within North Omaha. Temeshia Qualls says that she has seen the pieces of the puzzle come together with Rooted work and feels something meaningful is being passed on to the families they work with. But Debra Nared asks an important question: “we may have an opportunity to be a part of something bigger than us, but what happens afterward?”
TransformED accents Rooted in Relationships’ mission to collaborate with communities and with other state entities so as to build stronger infrastructure for early childhood mental health. As Bradley puts it, “It’s imperative to continue to collaborate with other initiatives and programs that support child care providers and the rest of the early childhood workforce. If we can figure out how to integrate practices, we can reduce redundancy and maximize impact.” What better way then for Rooted to celebrate its first 10 years and to set off on the next 10 years of working with communities and with state partners.
Growing the Good Life 