For Immediate Use December
7, 2003
Contact: Laurie Kristiansen, FMC Community
Empowerment
641-435-4435
Empowerment Chair Invites
Community to Join
FMC Community Empowerment Work Committees
In a move to facilitate grassroots involvement, Frank Rottinghaus, FMC (Floyd-Mitchell-Chickasaw) Community Empowerment Chair, has invited community members in the three-county area to sign up for Empowerment Work Study Committees.
“We would like to see more people involved at the Empowerment committee level,” noted Rottinghaus. “Especially those area residents who are utilizing programs through FMC Community Empowerment.”
FMC Community Empowerment administers two grants in the three counties; one a state “school ready grant” and the second, a federal “early childhood grant”. Both grants are intended to provide programs and services for children ages 0-5. Those programs include preschool scholarships, public health services, training and assistance to day care providers and childcare centers, along with support for local Head Start classes.
At a recent FMC Empowerment board meeting, Rottinghaus indicated he would like to see a renewal of the Empowerment work groups, focusing on improving and updating the Empowerment programs.
“As board members, we can better serve our Empowerment goals if more of our community members and those utilizing the programming are involved,” Rottinghaus explained.
FMC Community Empowerment has enacted four major work study committees that include: Public Health/Speech Pathology; Child Care Resource & Referral; Head Start/Heads Up; and Preschool Scholarships/FMC Education Coalition/EAGLE.
The Public Health/Speech Pathology Committee will serve as a liaison between the local Empowerment Board and public health departments in Floyd-Mitchell-Chickasaw Counties. FMC Empowerment Board member Deb Freeman, Public Health Nurse, Mitchell County will facilitate this committee.
The Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) committee will be headed by FMC Empowerment vice chair Virgil Pickar, Jr., from New Hampton. This committee will
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Empowerment Work Groups
serve as a liaison between Empowerment/CCR&R and daycare providers and daycare centers in the three-county area.
The Head Start/”Heads Up” committee will be spear-headed by board members Cheryl Jahnel (Mitchell County) and Sandy Koch (Chickasaw County) and will deal primarily with Head Start programming in the Floyd/Mitchell and Chickasaw Counties, along with fledgling program, “Heads Up”. “Heads Up” is a pilot program introduced this fall by Empowerment to provide similar Head Start programming in communities where Head Start services are not available.
The Preschool Scholarship/Education Coalition/EAGLE committee will review the preschool scholarship policies in the three counties, along with continuing the new education coalition group recently established by FMC Empowerment. Board members serving on this committee include Jennifer Bauer (secretary, Mitchell County), and Larry Hicok, elementary principal at the Rudd/Rockford/Marble Rock School District.
Community Members Invited to Participate
Citizens in Floyd, Mitchell, and Chickasaw counties are urged to participate in any of these work groups.
“We hope that by making this information available and getting the work groups up and running, we’ll see a greater participation in each community,” said Rottinghaus.
Anyone interested in participating in the FMC Community Empowerment committees may contact Laurie Kristiansen, FMC Community Empowerment Facilitator, for more information phone: 641-435-4435.