School Readiness Roundtable Minutes | Apr. 25, 2012

The 14th Meeting of the Fields Corner Children Thrive

School Readiness Roundtable/Dorchester Cluster Meeting

At Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester, 1135 Dorchester Ave.

April 25, 2012

 

Lead Agency Responsible for the meeting: Dorchester House Multi-Service Center

 

Meeting Collaborators/Planning Partners:

Partner Organization:                                                  Collaborator Name:

Dorchester House Multi-Service Center                                   Marika Hewes

Dorchester House Multi-Service Center                                   Michelle Nadow                                                                     

Dorchester House Multi-Service Center                                   Tuyen Nguyen

Dotwell                                                                                    Laura Santel

 

Present at the Meeting:

Jose Morales                                                                College Bound

BichPhuong Do                                                                       Dorchester House Multi-Service Center          

Sophia Michel                                                              Parent/Smart from the Start

Cindy Cye                                                                   BPL-Fields Corner Branch

Cheryle Dinatale                                                          College Bound

Pat Taylor                                                                    College Bound

Susan McDonald                                                         College Bound

Bob Paret                                                                     FCCT parent partner/parent

Animasahun Yetunde                                                  Parent

Gloria Kirk                                                                  Grandparent

Mary Kinsella                                                              BGCDorchester

Ellen Lucas                                                                  BGCDorchester

Sandy Sachs                                                                Family Nurturing Center

Torena Webb-Thomas                                                 Parent

Duyen Trieu                                                                FCCT parent partner

Karin Friedemann                                                        Parent

David Gonzalez                                                                       Harbor Health

Julia Jenkins                                                                Parent/ SFTS

Carla Smith                                                                  Grandparent/NHCS     

Patrick Ziemnik                                                                       Dorchester House Multi-Service Center                                              

Sherilla Lestrade                                                          Parent/daycare provider

Cheryle Bianchi                                                                       Countdown to Kindergarten

Torena Webb-Thomas                                                 Parent/SFTS    

Katie Madrigal                                                             Thrive in 5

Melissa Ryan                                                               Codman Square Health Center

Molly Mariano                                                             Codman Square Health Center

Lily Le                                                                         Parent

 

Meeting Outcomes: By the end of this meeting, we hope to have:

  1. A shared understanding of upcoming events and activities in the neighborhood.
  2. An agreement on the Dorchester Day Parade commitment, activities and planning.

 

Topics Discussed:

  1. Community updates/announcements: 
  • Torena will be facilitating a theater and dance performance sessions for children ages 6-13 as part of Art Roots. She is looking teens who would be interested in working as paid interns. For more information, contact Torena at 617.953.5315.
  • Brain Building in Progress-Family Fun Day at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester, 35 Deer St, this Saturday April 28th from 10am-2pm.

    • Free event with family engagement activities, story times, literacy activities, books and materials for families, and food and fun!
  • John Connolly will come to Dorchester, May 14th to talk to parents about school registration process.

    • He is especially interested in meeting parents who have recently registered their children for kindergarten to hear about their experiences with the process.
    • Childcare and dinner will be provided.
    • The event is set for 6PM at the Dorchester House; childcare & dinner.

    

  1. Neighborhood Events:

    • FCCT Discovery Museum-April 7th

      • 71 participants attended the field trip
    • Little Bookworms comes to Dorchester for the Day-May 9th (2:30-4:00pm)

      • Includes story time, circle time, visits with friendly animals, and other activities.
      • Space is limited. RSVP to Tuyen at tuyen.nguyen@dorchesterhouse.org or by calling 617.740.2586 if you would like to attend.
    • Children’s Museum Day-May 12th (11:00am – 3:00pm)

      • Transportation will be provided at the following sites:

        1. Martha Eliot Heath Center
        2. Codman Square Health Center
        3. Dorchester House Multi-Service Center
      • For more information, please contact Latifah Hasan at 617.534.2443
    • Parent Literacy Ambassador’s Workshop for Parents- May- To be determined
    • DW Play in Spanish-College Bound Dorchester- June (Discussions with Jose).
    • Countdown to Kindergarten End of Year Celebration for playgroups-June 13th

      • It will be held at Pope John Paul Park (10am-12pm)
      • We will update you with more details.
    • Early Words for Early Birds; Community Event-READ Boston-June
    • WIC Farmers Market Give-Away

      • July 7th at Dorchester House site
      • July 14th at Codman Square Health Center site
    • Children’s Museum Field Trip-August 3rd

 

  1. Dorchester Day Parade

    • Sharing past experiences

      • The parade route is 3+ miles from start to end.
      • There are periods waiting (especially at the beginning of the route and during the walk).
    • Do we want to commit to this?

      • Volunteers

        1. Torena will do a dance routine with children who will be entering kindergarten in the fall. Kids can practice dance routines and get instructions from Torena during the waiting time before of the start of the parade.
        2. Sherilla will be in charge of arts and crafts materials and decorations for strollers and other “rides”. We will have materials for walkers at the beginning of the route.
        3. Susan McDonald will map out the walking route with locations where people can come into or leave the parade as well as locations for bathroom breaks. If your agency would like to volunteer to become a pit stop site, please contact Susan at smacdonald@collegebounddorchester.org
        4. If you would like to volunteer to help us with the parade please reply to this email!

 

  • Are we walking? Or should we get a vehicle?

    1. We will have a water/snacks vehicle, which will either be the BGC or Dot House van.

      1. Each organization will donate a case of water.
    2. Walkers will bring their own “rides” which can be strollers, bikes, tricycles, wagons etc… at guardian’s discretion. 

 

  • What activities will we have at the beginning, during and end?

    1. We are hoping to have music during the walk. Sandy will see about a honk band and Sherilla will talk to a radio station.
    2. We can possibly have DW play characters come walk with us or rent costumes and get volunteers
    3. Children can make masks, animal ears or hats to wear during the parade that can reflect something in their favorite book.
    4. Children will do mini dance numbers during the route.

 

  • T-Shirts/Banner

    1. We will have a Thrive banner with partner organizations’ logos on it. If you have questions or want more details with the banner please contact Marika at marika.michelangelo@dorchesterhouse.org
    2. Organizations have the option of carrying their own banner during the parade, which will follow the Thrive banner.
    3. T-shirts:

      1. Children going to kindergarten in the fall will wear their yellow tee-shirts.
      2. We will get white tee-shirts will our information and children can personalize their own shirt to unify all the organizations working with FCCT.
      3. Green tee-shirts for countdown to kindergarten playgroups are in the designing stages. Cheryle will update us later with more information.

 

  • Should we have an end of the walk celebration?

    1. We will have a small celebration at the end of the parade at the Boys & Girls Clubs or Dorchester afterward.
    2. Walkers and volunteers are welcome to come.

 

Next steps:

  1. Next SRR Date: May 23rd from 12:30-2:30pm at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester, 1135 Dorchester Ave.