DuPage Foundation reports first results of Bright & Early DuPage Initiative

The DuPage Foundation recently announced its third round of grants to support its banner initiative Bright & Early DuPage, which focuses on improving kindergarten-readiness in DuPage County. Three collaboratives are currently being supported by the Foundation in communities throughout DuPage County-Addison, Bensenville, Wheaton/Warrenville-in addition to a regional early childhood hub under the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform.

Here are some of the results of the initiative that were reported to the Foundation's Board of Trustees at its May Board meeting:

• 120 new four-year-old preschool slots for children were created as a direct result of the Foundation's investment in Addison and Wheaton/Warrenville. Each community will receive funding for 60 high quality, full-day, four-year-old preschool slots. These slots will be funded by a Federal preschool grant prepared by the Office of the Governor, who invited both communities to be part of the application because of their collaborative work in this field.

• 394 children have been screened with the Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). In partnership with Easter Seals, Addison and Wheaton/Warrenville are engaging families to screen their children for developmental delays. Once identified, families are connected to the appropriate resources to help their child. 318 children have been screened since July 2013 in Wheaton/Warrenville and 76 children since September 2014 in Addison.

• District 200 reported a 38 percent increase in kindergarten-readiness for low-income families in Wheaton/Warrenville. This increase is based on letter sound mastery and has been measured since 2012 when the Foundation launched the Bright & Early DuPage initiative.

• District 200 reported a 58 percent increase in parent engagement in Wheaton/Warrenville as measured by all-day kindergarten enrollment (since 2012).

• Multiple DuPage collaborations have been selected to pilot the ABLe Change Framework initiative. The ABLe Change Framework is focused on building capacity to support localized efforts in developing strong community systems. The emphasis of ABLe Change Framework is on identifying, engaging, and enrolling children with high needs in a comprehensive continuum of high quality early learning and development programs. Local entities that will participate in the pilot training include Addison Early Childhood Collaboration (one of four communities from Illinois selected); DuPage Regional Collaboration (one of two regional collaborations selected) and DuPage/Kane Child Care Resource and Referral, the only CCR&R system selected to participate.

System Change Results

• Wheaton/Warrenville changed the way they were screening children. The District adopted the ASQ when they learned that other community organizations serving young children used this tool. This system change is significant because all children in the community will now be screened, regardless of where the screening occurs, with a common tool which will allow for better tracking of outcomes related to the screenings.

• School districts are actively focusing on early childhood. As a result of the DuPage Foundation's initiative, the Addison, Bensenville, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream and Wheaton/Warrenville school districts have become involved increasingly in addressing the needs of children birth to five in their district. The major focus of school districts has traditionally been to address the needs of children from kindergarten through 12th grade and to address the needs of younger children only when an academic delay has been identified.

• District 200 is working directly with World Relief DuPage, an organization which resettles many refugees in Wheaton. Due to cultural differences, these families have little understanding of the need to enroll their children in preschool, screen for developmental delays or register for kindergarten. Through the collaboration, the school district has changed the registration process and now go on-site at World Relief DuPage with interpreters to help families register for school.

• Non-early childhood social service agencies are gaining greater awareness of the importance of focusing on early childhood needs. As a result of their participation in the WWECC, DuPage Pads recognized a need for early childhood training for their staff members who work with clients who have children. Their staff did not have expertise in this area but garnered that expertise from collaboration members.

"We have made tremendous progress in helping local communities develop collaborative systems to increase kindergarten readiness," said Foundation Director of Programs Barb Szczepaniak. "Moving forward, the DuPage Foundation will work with the collaborations to identify additional measurable outcomes on which all collaborations will be expected to report. We will also be seeking out additional funders to help seed future collaborations."

About the DuPage Foundation

The DuPage Foundation seeks to raise the quality of life throughout DuPage County by

fostering philanthropy, connecting donors to area needs and building community partnerships. Based on the American virtues of volunteerism and philanthropy, the Foundation fosters a legacy of support for the people of DuPage County by making grants to not-for-profit organizations working in the areas of arts and culture, education, environment, health, and human services. Since its inception, the Foundation has built its endowment to more than $63 million and awarded more than $22 million in grants to not-for-profit agencies serving the residents of DuPage County and beyond.

Established in 1986, the DuPage Foundation is a publicly-supported 501(c)(3) organization to

which contributions are tax deductible. It was created to benefit the people of DuPage County and receives

contributions and bequests into a permanent endowment from individuals, corporations, organizations and foundations wishing to make lasting contributions to the people of DuPage. The earnings on these funds are then used, in accordance with donor wishes, for the Foundation's grantmaking and community leadership activities.

For more information about the Foundation, or to arrange future media opportunities, please contact Joelyn Kundrot, marketing & communications officer, at (630) 665-5556, extension 19, or joelyn@dupagefoundation.org.