| Introduction:
Parents wanted a way to work together to benefit all Danbury children and were willing to commit considerable time to building and maintaining the collaboration. Their collaboration is unique because it is parent-led and is also ethnically diverse. Danbury Children First continually reaches out to more and more parents of diverse backgrounds to accomplish its mission for all children. Danbury Children First also reaches out to other organizations to partner in areas of mutual interest.
Background:
Historically, Danbury Children First helped to pilot several programs that it now supports through its advocacy and by building partnerships. These included ParentNet, offering accessible parenting skills classes on a regular basis to parents in 3 languages, an arts program offered at elementary schools, and a "Buddy System" where parents mentored other parents on parental involvement in the schools.
The decision was made in 1998 to change our role to catalyst from a provider of services. This was followed by a strategic planning process in 1999. The desired outcomes that all children are healthy and ready to succeed in school remained the same. The goal to build capacities so that the community could better respond to parents’ priorities for children also remained the same. The decision to act in the future as a catalyst was made (1) to maximize our resources and focus on what we offer that is unique and (2) to prevent any duplication of efforts with other organizations that offered similar-type programs to those we offered in 1999.
Today Danbury Children First works as a catalyst in the community by:
(1) heightening awareness of issues affecting young children,
(2) community mobilization regarding children issues and desired outcomes,
(3) building the capacity of parents as civic leaders and
(4) building the capacity of the community to embrace parent leadership as a way to improve the lives of children.
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Mission: To involve, empower and support parents to improve the lives of children at home, in school and in the community.
