Download the Phase I Final Report of the Early Childhood Initiative Summit

An exciting Early Childhood Initiative Summit (ECI) was held January 13, at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community
Center. More than 75 individuals were convened by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle for the important early childhood-focused discussion among Federation and community leaders, partner agency executives and board chairs, parents and other interested community
members and directors and teachers of Jewish early learning centers.

“ We are very pleased at the
turnout for the Summit,” said Amy Wasser-Simpson, Vice President for Planning and Community Services at the Federation. “ The attendees engaged deeply in the information and the exchange of ideas; it was great to see so many parts of the community come together around a common need.”

The Summit marks the end of Phase 1–a year-long process of research undertaken
by the Federation’s Early Childhood Initiative Task Force. To-date, the task force
has reviewed local early childhood and parent education programs; assessed the
community’s early childhood and parent education needs; and investigated national
programs and best practices in the areas of early childhood and parent education.

The Summit focused on discussion and community input on issues of outreach,
teacher training, curricular issues, and barriers to access in Jewish early childhood and parent education. Three break-out sessions asked participants to think about:

1. How do we ensure multiple outreach/access/entry points into Jewish early learning for families with children ages 0-5?

2. How do we develop a comprehensive community-wide program to cultivate Jewish
identity for families with children 0-5?

3. How do we continually improve Jewish early learning, in all settings, for children
ages 0-5 and their parents?

Some important goals of the Summit included generating enthusiasm and
gaining participants for Phase 2 of the Early Childhood Initiative, which will kick
off in February. This phase of the ECI will include developing a community-wide
action plan to take Seattle from “good to great” in the area of early childhood
and parent education programming, and increasing and enhancing the Jewish
engagement of families with children from birth to age 5.

David Ellenhorn, Chair of the Initiative said, “We are very pleased at the level of
support for the Early Childhood Initiative. A number of good ideas were generated from
our discussion. This initiative is the first in the Federation’s role as community convener. We look forward to future partnership with agencies and interested leaders to improve the Seattle Jewish community.”

For more information on the Early Childhood Initiative and/or to participate in Phase 2, please contact Carol at CarolR@JewishInSeattle.org.