Columbus Emergency Response Merges with Columbus Area United Way/ Community & Family Partnership

As of October 1, we welcomed Emergency Response to our team as it merged with the CAUW and CFP. Note that we dropped “Columbus” from the name.



Judy Martensen continues in the position of the CER Program Manager, and the office remains at Simon House. What changes is that the funding is now housed with the United Way and people accessing the services of CER will be assisted with Central Navigation and coaching on a routine basis.

The move of CER funding and staff to CAUW/CFP is one example of providing wrap-around services for those needing assistance. This means families with children, individuals, seniors, etc. tell their story one less time by braiding Emergency Relief to CAUW/CFP.

You can find a card for Emergency Relief at findhelp.org

Speaking of Find Help…have you claimed your agency card yet on the website? If you see changes that need to be made to your card, that can be done, too. Check your program card out today!

Emergency Relief still exists ~ it’s now under the CFP card at findhelp.org

You can reach Judy by calling her at the United Way phone number of 402-564-5661 or by emailing her at jmartenson@columbusunitedway.com

Nebraska Child Care Tax Credit Presentations

Families rely on early childhood educators and quality child care to be in the workforce. This is why supporting and investing in child care and its early educators is essential to our communities, state, and nation. On October 16th, nineteen people- tax accountants and child care providers - attended the second of two Nebraska Child Care Tax Credit presentations in the four county area; this one in Columbus. They learned about Nebraska tax credits that benefit parents, taxpayers and qualifying early childhood care providers.

Tax credit information can be found on the Nebraska Department of Revenue website https://revenue.nebraska.gov/tax-credits/child-care-tax-credit-act

Discussion was also had regarding Legislative Bill 304 which makes permanent the current income eligibility requirements for child care assistance. This bill ensures that more working families can afford quality child care and stay in the workforce to strengthen Nebraska. (let’s add a button/buttons for info on LB304 which is attached – there are two different documents to include)

Share the information with others! 

We had our October collaboration upstairs at HyVee. We covered Pyramid 1B booster rules and expectations. All providers received an hour of service and were reminded of the importance of going over rules throughout your day and how pictures help a child put the two together. We also pulled together as a Rooted family and supported two of our providers who are both dealing with some hard family times. This group of women really are family to each other.



Rooted in Relationships attended two Trick or Trunks this month. One at Christ Lutheran School and the other at Saint Bonaventure School. We passed out 500 stress balls with a fun feeling face and our name on them and information to parents on how to help children with their feels, along with a magnet that has our Facebook page on it and our Platte County Rooted in Relationships video.

We are continuing with a full class of Circle of Security in the classroom for our introduction year providers.

Youth and Families Thrive Training Coming in December

If you want to learn more about working with children and families by using a strengths-based approach for positive change, consider attending the Youth and Families Thrive training. Youth and Families Thrive Nebraska is an approach that focuses on strengthening children and family so that all can thrive. Some of the promotive/protective factors that will be discussed are knowledge of parenting and child and adolescent development, social-emotional competence, resilience, social connections, and concrete supports. This approach is evidence informed and is designed to integrate into current practices to help people live a better life.

This training will take place over three days in December: December 1^st, December 8^th, and December 15^th. Please see the flyer attachment below to register for this training.

Ready to be a changemaker for families? Join the Bring Up Nebraska Network! 

Bring Up Nebraska is a call to action to help families thrive and is supported by Nebraska Children and Families Foundation. Bring Up Nebraska is focused on prevention and strengthening families BEFORE crisis to empower them within their communities. It is about uniting those with shared agendas, implementing systems and providing evidence-based training to support meaningful opportunities and creating partnerships. 

Helping families thrive and focusing on preventive efforts is a priority area of Community and Family Partnership and more voices are needed. The more people involved in the shared mission of improving the quality of life for young people and families, the more impact we can have. Let’s do this together. See more information in the flyer below or visit BringUpNebraska.org.

Have you visited the Schuyler Community Book Garden??

Check it out!

Like what you see? Want to share the news?

Download your own copies of these flyers by clicking on the picture!