Ensuring That Children are Healthy and
Prepared to Succeed in School

In the early 1990s, a broad coalition of civic partners came together to promote a citywide early childhood development and education agenda. The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving’s early childhood initiative highlights this effort, which is now in its 16th year. City and state government also have made major commitments to improve early childhood education. Recent developments include the Mayor’s appointment as chair of the Hartford Board of Education and establishment of the Mayor’s Office of Young Children, the Governor’s Cabinet for Early Childhood Education and the state’s Early Childhood Research and Policy Council.

While building on this work, Making Connections in Hartford has focused attention on neighborhood and family-centered strategies. This is especially critical in Hartford, where there is a profound need to reach the most vulnerable children and families living in the toughest neighborhoods. To close the gaps in 4th grade testing results, Making Connections is focusing on the strategies described below to reach families whose children are experiencing the most dramatic gaps.

Home Links
Making Connections supports the Hartford Foundation’s citywide early childhood education initiative by placing added emphasis on the need to improve the quality of care that family, friend, and neighbor childcare providers offer. The Home Links strategy uses visits to childcare providers to promote early literacy using a curriculum tailored to helping children achieve preschool learning goals and developmental benchmarks set by the state. Parents receive a monthly progress report on their children’s activities in the program, as well as materials to help them prepare for the transition to school.

Walkers and Talkers
The “Walkers and Talkers” strategy trains community residents to provide families with information about developmentally appropriate activities for infants and toddlers and on how to connect parents to formal and informal social networks; public benefits; and community resources. Families who participate in the program attend workshops on healthy child development and receive information on how to access the EITC and related asset-building programs.

Hartford Blueprint for Young Children
In 2005, Making Connections supported the adoption of the Hartford Blueprint for Young Children, a program initiated by the Mayor that lists the developmental indicators needed to ensure children are healthy and prepared to succeed in school. In cooperation with the Mayor’s Office, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and other committed organizations, Making Connections in Hartford continues to seek new opportunities to increase the number of children from Frog Hollow and Upper Albany who enter school healthy and prepared to succeed.

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