Community Resource Sharing Newsletter

Here’s what you missed from the June collaborative meeting!

The meeting started with some self-love. We had a survey of what attendees were doing that week to take care of themselves and the answers were great! Here are a few common themes:

1) Being outdoors – Going outside, fishing, visiting nature, bike rides, gardening and having a picnic

2) Rest – Early bedtimes, reading, long naps

3) Activity – Gym time, cardio, walking

4) Connecting – Lots of responses on watching kid activities and spending time with family and friends.

Your turn! Go feed your soul!

We had a great speaker from Nebraska Infant Mental Health who shared ideas and resources on the mental health of infants and toddlers and talked about regulating emotions. For more information, visit www.neinfantmentalhealth.org.

Conversation came out at our last in-person meeting in April regarding additional meetings with the potential to go into our other counties. There was a survey sent out with lots of responses! That information will now go to the steering committee for discussion.

Our wonderful NCFF Consultant, Gay let the group know that NCFF is moving away from the consultant model so she will be stepping out and our new teaching assistant, Sophia Yelkin will be stepping in. We will miss Gay but will be in great hands with Sophia as we move this work forward.

New 2024 Child Protective Services data is out and was reviewed. The number of removals in our four-county area increased from 2023 to 2024 with 55 removals in 2024. Educational personnel are the largest reporters, which is in line with what is happening nationally. Another great resource is the Community Opportunity Map from Casey Family Programs. It has great local and national data that you can use to help impact your work or when writing grants. It can be found at

https://community-opportunity-map.casey.org/cailive.

With our current climate and funding changing, a survey was released to agencies to ask about their funding and grant changes. Some agencies have had large changes, some small and some not at all. Please see below for survey results and comments.

Our next meeting is via zoom on August 6th . Hope to see you there!

Roberta Miksch,

Collective Impact Director

Now that’s something!

What does 352 – 1# packages of ground beef look like? The picture below

tells you!

Why am I writing about ground beef? We’ve received funding from NCFF for a unique grant which allows us to purchase eggs and beef from local producers, that’s why! We’re using the funding to purchase eggs and beef to distribute to food pantries and

other entities that serve those in need across the four-county area, which is super cool to be able to literally reach all four counties with this food.

I admit, I’ve learned a lot about eggs and beef with this grant. Take beef for instance,

there’s the live weight of the animal, the carcass weight, and the processed weight. The

market prices you may hear on radio stations (for those of you that still listen to the

radio) come into play here as well for cost of beef. Oh, and then there’s the rate for

transporting the beeves to slaughter which is different than the federal reimbursement

rate of $0.70/mile. You can tell I’m not a farm girl!  A local producer gently informed me

to use the word “beef” rather than “cow” when talking about purchasing and processing.

To date, 3,822 – 1# pound ground beef packages have been purchased with most of the

meat already into the hands of those in need. As far as eggs, we’ve purchased

35,700 dozen of eggs thus far…that’s 428,400 eggs purchased in total thus far from

local producers! We have enough funding remaining for additional egg purchases in

June and July yet. The oh-so versatile egg was one of the items food pantries told us

they could use and lots of dozens have been distributed thus far.

It’s been an interesting grant to work with from the start and has resulted in so many

great outcomes. It’s been wonderful working with the small producers and meat lockers

in the four-county area. Added to that are the relationships that have been nurtured

with new or existing partners who are distributing the food to those in need. We are

working with partners in many communities with this grant alone – Howells, Cedar

Rapids, Petersburg, Fullerton, Belgrade, Schuyler, Columbus, Albion, Clarkson – this is

a sample of where some of our partners can be found and/or where the food has been

distributed to.  

This grant ends mid-August and though the food will be distributed what remains is our

relationships with those we’ve worked with.

Let’s continue to nourish our partnerships as we work together to help our community

members to have the resources they need to thrive and flourish. 

P.S. Note that the meat in the picture was transported on a chilly April morning with the cover of the bed closed over the meat. The meat was directly taken to pantries within 1.5 hours and placed immediately into freezers. Food safety was taken into consideration as well. I do know a bit about that!

Cheryl Drozd,

RIR Coordinator

We just finished a Circle of Security in the Classroom class for all our coaches that will be doing some coaching during this class with our new Introduction Year Cohort 3 providers. This is a class that truly focuses on the importance of a childcare providers job and the connection they make with the children in their care. I don’t think childcare providers give themselves enough credit with how big of a part they play in a child’s life. This class helps a provider see how much

the child needs and depends on them and how they fit into that important part of a child’s day.

There were other providers in the community that attended the class as well to fill it up as we want to promote it as a must-take class. This is why we have decided to offer this as one of our classes to our Introduction Year Providers.

We will also be offering a CHIME class as well to our new providers which helps them to allow down time in their days and reflection time before and after their day, which is a very important part of caring for yourself in a busy profession like childcare. Again, providers spend more time caring for others than themselves. We also see this as a must-take class, and it teaches providers how to share the information they learn with the children in their care as well. Allowing down time and reflection time for them and the children during the day. It is a win-win for all!

Kim Parsons,

Early Childhood Community Coordinator

Sparking Change for Schuyler's Youngest Community Members: Building Connections Dinner

On June 19 th Strong Starts Schuyler will bring together diverse voices – parents, educators, business leaders, community members, and local officials for an engaging dinner and vital conversation about the future of early childhood care in our community.

Guests will learn about Strong Starts Schuyler - Early Childhood Partnership and their mission to foster partnerships to ensure Schuyler's children have quality early care and education, empowering them to thrive in school and life.

Our Keynote speakers for this event will be Russell Herrera & Monica Arroyo Herrera. Russell & Monica are Schuyler Central High School alumni, young parents of three and work at Center for Immigrant & Rural Affairs in Omaha. They possess a uniquely insightful grasp of Schuyler's culture and the challenges that define our community. The Building Connections Dinner will be held at The Saint Benedict Center, 1126 County Rd I. Gathering at 5:30, Dinner at 6:00, Keynote at 7:00. There is no cost for dinner.

If you would like to learn more about Strong Starts Schuyler and join us for the Building Connections Dinner, please contact Kim Parsons at 402.615.2685 by June 14th.

Kate Wythers,

Community Prevention Director

Community Prevention Newsletter

Summer is underway and Community Prevention is excited to join in community events for the children and families in the counties we serve! Community Prevention staff participated in the Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA. Staff will be attending Summer Camp Summer Fun Day on July 17, 2025. Keep an eye on our newsletter for the upcoming Back to School events!

Community Prevention staff are excited to attend the 2025 NCAJJC Conference in Lincoln, NE in June. Kate Wythers (Community Prevention Director) and Roberta Miksch (Collective Impact Director) will be presenting at the NCAJJC Conference about the benefits of community prevention and the impact of collaborative work.

Libby Crecco and Keydy Vazquez are starting Bridges out of Poverty training and will be fully certified to implement Bridges out of Poverty trainings by August 2025. All Community Prevention staff will participate in Motivational Interviewing (MI) training this summer and are looking forward to utilizing the skills and techniques with our families.

6 Regions, One Nebraska 

According to opportunity.nebraska.gov, in 2024, the 6 Regions, One Nebraska initiative was created to allow separate regions in Nebraska to make focused, data-driven decisions and to select a project they feel will positively impact the future of their local community. Each of the six regions received an initial financial investment, matched by private dollars, to establish a team in their region will receive financial incentive for initial regional projects in Resident Recruitment, Youth Engagement, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Infrastructure or a selected regional project. 

Our region has decided to focus their project on increasing the number of child care professionals in our area. Equitable Early Childcare and Education is a current priority area of Community and Family Partnership, and we are eager to explore what this means for our local counties. Right now, a $2,500 stipend is being offered for those who wish to become an in-home child care professional. Becoming a child care professional gives you the ability to work from home in an industry that is always needed. There are experienced mentors available to help and grant funding available. Child care professionals are the workforce behind the workforce and are vital for our communities and economy to thrive. 

Please see the flyer for additional information.

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!