Rural, Resilient, and Ready for School: Lessons from Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s Community and Parent Engagement Initiatives

ECFC and Buffet Early Childhood Fund hosted this discussion on the importance of community and parent engagement in rural communities for effective and equitable solutions to community needs, featuring the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation (NCCF), a statewide platform for public/private partnerships focused on cradle-to-career, whole family work, and community and parent engagement.

NCCF has a unique approach to solving large, complex social issues that affect Nebraska’s children, based on core beliefs that: prevention is the most effective and fiscally responsible approach for addressing complex social problems; and channeling a community’s existing resources toward a common goal will maximize their effectiveness.

These core beliefs coupled with NCFF’s community collaborative infrastructure, have made it possible for them to lead rural, statewide efforts around early childcare and education access and quality, workforce supports, and comprehensive multigenerational supports like family literacy.

NCFF’s team joined us to share three initiatives that make up their rural engagement initiatives supporting young children, families and providers: Sixpence Early Learning Fund, Communities for Kids, and Rooted in Relationships.  NCFF leaders for each of these initiatives shared their unique strategies for engaging rural communities, as well as important important lessons across the initiatives relevant to working with and in other states and rural communities.  We were also joined by Lacey Ahrens, a family home child care provider from Buffalo County, Nebraska, who shared how these programs gave her access and opportunity for networking with other providers, coaching, and ongoing training, which were essential to establishing and growing her business, Bubbly Britches.