Married Couple Help Launch New Initiative
When the Executive Director of the Child Care Council of Kentucky is married to the Early Childhood Gap Intervention Specialist for Fayette County schools, you can bet they sometimes talk shop over dinner.
That turns out to be a good thing for local families.
Dinner conversations between Bradley and Whitney Stevenson resulted in another marriage – the joining of the Child Care Council (Bradley) and FCPS (Whitney) in order to partner in a new initiative called Delivery to Diploma.
The Child Care Council, a private, non-profit funded largely by state and federal funds and a United Way partner agency, was founded in 1984 and now serves up to 16,000 children per month in 71 counties.
The Council helps find high-quality childcare for families, funds childcare for needy families and trains childcare providers.
The Delivery to Diploma program fits its mission to improve the lives of children.
This new program aims to ensure that all families receive resources to support the development of their children from the day they’re born.
The New Year saw the launch of the inaugural project at Lexington’s three area hospitals.
Every family having a baby will receive a Delivery to Diploma gift bag filled with materials that help parents nurture their babies into healthy children.
Among other community partners who contribute to the bag, The Child Care Council provides a baby bottle and child-care tips, and the United Way of the Bluegrass donates postcard magnets featuring a Q&A on baby development and 2-1-1 referrals.
The Lexington Public Library gives out a hardback picture book and information about library cards and story times.
Lexington Family Magazine is providing its annual “Baby Bump” publication with tips and articles for expectant and new mothers.
The bags contain a letter from FCPS superintendent Stu Silberman and a postcard that families can return to FCPS to receive ongoing support as their babies grow.
“We want families to send us back their information so we can start a database and follow up every year until their child starts kindergarten,” said Whitney Stevenson.
Whitney came up with the name for the program by bouncing ideas off her husband one weekend.
Bradley and his team at the Child Care Council share Whitney’s enthusiasm for the program.
“We are excited by the potential to make a big impact in our community,” he says.
“We can help make a real difference with families.”
Sounds like the perfect marriage all the way around.