The ONE Regional BBF Council has used the council meeting time to provide continuing education regarding trauma informed practices and resources. At the October meeting, we showed the documentary film, “Broken Places”, which explores why some children are permanently impacted by early adversity while others are able to thrive. Nationally known experts help the viewer understand the effects of trauma as well as the inspiring characteristics of resilience. A facilitated discussion followed the film. Auburn Watersong, recently hired as the state Director of Trauma Prevention and Resilience Development, was our guest speaker at the November Council meeting. Auburn spoke about her new role, and engaged us in a discussion regarding how trauma manifests itself in young children and the impact of secondary traumatic stress in the workforce.
BBF partnered with North Country S.U. Early Childhood Program Coordinator, Diane Nichols-Fleming, to offer a 4 part training from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) Preschool Training Modules-”Promoting Social and Emotional Competence” . Approximately 20 early childhood education professionals attended the sessions, held in October and November. BBF sponsored the training for professional development credits through Northern Lights career development system.
BBF and Building Flourishing Communities (BFC) partnership activities through the Robert Wood Johnson Community Collaborative Learning grant are continuing in communities in all 3 counties in our region. Free screenings of the movie “Resilience”, followed by a discussion, were held in Island Pond and Newport, with a diverse group of community members in attendance. The film will be shown in Canaan in December. The vision is to create opportunities for shared learning, bolstered by the community meetings that not only disseminate information, but create a sense of connection and belonging within individuals in their communities.
BBF hosted a regional “Universal PreK” forum to gather community members together to share what’s working with UPK in our region and discuss barriers to successful UPK implementation. A small but articulate group turned out for the event, providing valuable insight regarding Universal Pre K from a variety of perspectives.
Upcoming Regional Council Meeting and Activities:
December 2, 2019, 1-2:30 at the Goodrich Library in Newport-Matt Levin, Executive Director of the VT Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance, will present a preview of the Alliance legislative agenda for the 2020 session.
January 6, 2020, 1-2:30 at the Goodrich Memorial Library in Newport- Allyson Howell Prevention Specialist at NEKLS & Julie Raboin Prevention Consultant at the VT Department of Health, will give a presentation on E-Cigarettes and Vaping
January 28, 2020 First meeting of the “Trauma Informed Kindergarten Transition” workgroup convened by BBF
