Newly Trained Community Messengers Will Spend the Summer
“Getting the Word Out” About Services for Families in Danbury
Pilot Program Taught Parents About Community Services, Supports, and Events and How to Share That Information With Other Parents in Their Neighborhoods, Schools, and Workplaces
In Danbury, 20 newly trained Community Messengers will spend the summer getting information out to parents about the many supports and services that are available to Danbury families to help them raise healthy children and support their learning.
The parents were trained as part of a pilot Community Messengers program launched this year by Danbury’s Promise for Children Partnership. The program was held for six weeks in the spring, and included childcare and a meal for participants. The parents completed the program with a wealth of knowledge about services, and how to best share that information with the other parents they connect with each day in their neighborhoods, churches, schools, and workplaces.
This summer, the Community Messengers will be manning tables at family-oriented events sponsored by the Danbury Library and the Danbury Fair Mall, as well as at the Danbury Downtown Farmer’s Market and other venues frequented by parents. They will be distributing information about the Summer Meals program, the free Imagination Library book program, the Help Me Grow program, and other programs that support families with young children.
Danbury’s Promise for Children Partnership piloted Community Messengers as part of its efforts to prepare all Danbury children for success in school. The program is based on the premise that most parents learn about community resources by talking with other parents they know and trust. By informing a cadre of parents about community services that benefit children and families, the Partnership hopes that participants will spread the word and refer parents to the services they need to help their children be healthy and succeed in school. It is modeled after a successful program that was created in Bridgeport.
The Community Messenger training sessions were conducted for six weeks at the Head Start Building on Foster Street. Each weekly session covered a particular topic. Topics included: how to find childcare and prepare your child for school; how to access health and behavioral health services; how the city government works; finding recreational activities; services for families who have children with special needs; and how to find financial resources. Each session featured speakers from various agencies and programs in the City.
“The program was great. It provided lots of information about how the schools work, about services for children, about healthcare,” said Mayra Ceballos, a parent who completed the program. “We had three presenters just on the healthcare topic alone.”
“When recruiting parents for the program, we tried to identify parents who are the ‘go-to’ people in their neighborhoods and schools,” explained Hayward McLain, Family Advocate and Fatherhood Initiative Coordinator at Head Start, who co-facilitated the program. “We wanted parents who would take what they learned and use it to help other parents.”
Elizabeth Quiñonez, Community Coordinator for Danbury’s Promise for Children Partnership and the program’s other co-facilitator, explained that while the six formal weeks of training ended on April 28, those trained as Community Messengers will continue to meet on a monthly basis to keep up to date on resources and opportunities for families. The group will continue to invite speakers on certain topics, and will learn about events happening in the Danbury community for families.
“In addition to attending outreach events over the summer, we hope that the parents will continue meet, to learn new things about the community, and to serve as ongoing sources of information for the other parents in their social circles,” she said.
If funding is available, another six week session will be conducted next year with a new cohort of parents.
For more information about the Community Messengers Program contact Caroline LaFleur at 203-792-5330 ext. 245 or Elizabeth Quiñonez at 203-792-5330 ext. 222.
Danbury’s Promise for Children Partnership was founded in 2007. It brings people from all sectors of the Danbury community together to prepare Danbury’s children for success in school. Designated in 2014 to run the City of Danbury’s Office of Early Childhood, its major partners include United Way of Western CT, Education Connection, Danbury Children First, and Families Network of Western CT. For more information, visit www.danburypromiseforchildren.org.
Photo caption: Fourteen of the 20 Community Messengers who completed training this spring are pictured here at the Head Start building. Front row, from left to right: Miguelina Matista, Patricia Morocho, Rosa Quintuna, and Adelaida Chacha. Back row, from left to right: Gabriela Mendoza, Stacy Diaz, Samantha Wolf, Beena Shaik, Andrea Gutierrez, Viviane Leite, Mayra Ceballos, Karina Abril, Imelda Tenesaca. Community Messengers not pictured are: Pamela Acosta, William Batista, Jorge Andres Diaz, Maria Diaz, Jennifer Swetland, and Leonel Villavicencio.