Pennsylvania District of Kiwanis International

Pennsylvania Kiwanis and Early Childhood Learning

Kiwanis, in Pennsylvania and in support of our Young Children Priority One efforts, has become involved with the Governor’s Commission on Early Learning Investment. The information below provides information on the importance of early learning and what has happened with Kiwanis and Early Learning.

TO:Dr. W.J. “Wil” Blechman
FROM:  Kevin E. Thomas, District Executive Director
RE:Pennsylvania Kiwanis and Early Childhood Learning
DATE:January 4, 2011

Last March you were here in Pennsylvania to speak at our Midwinter Conference on the importance of quality Early Childhood Learning Opportunities and the need for Kiwanis Advocacy on the issue. A lot of has happened since then and I wanted to take the time to update you so that you can be fully aware of what has gone.

As you know from having presented with Mr. Lloyd Lamm, Pennsylvania has the advantage of having the Early Childhood Investment Commission (ELIC); the commission is comprised of 59 of the top leaders of many of the largest corporations/companies in Pennsylvania. Because Diane Halstead (Director of the Business Partnerships for the PA Key) had the vision that the Kiwanis mission for young children was a natural fit to the efforts of the commission, Kiwanis in Pennsylvania has had the opportunity to work with the commission in its efforts to insure quality early learning opportunities for all children in Pennsylvania from birth through age five.

The Kiwanis partnership with the ELIC has really taken off since the hiring of Nancy Fishman, Coordinator of Business Partnerships for the PA Key. (As a note, Nancy is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Carlisle and President of the Carlisle Area School Board.) With Nancy’s efforts and direction from Diane and me, a presentation has been developed that has been used at various Kiwanis meetings throughout Pennsylvania. I am attaching a copy of one of the presentations that has been used; similar versions, both shorter and longer and depending on who is speaking, have been used in various settings. Each presentation closes with a Kiwanis Call to Action; a copy of that is attached.

Presentations have been made to the following clubs: Hanover, Penn Hills, Baldwin, Johnstown, Juniata County, Mansfield, Upper Allen, Hershey-Hummelstown, Palmer Township and Stroudsburg. Additionally, presentations were made to Fall Regional Meetings for Region 3 and Region 7 (The Regional meetings consist of clubs and Kiwanians from about 25 to 30 clubs.). Presentations are scheduled for Harrisburg, State College, Bellefonte, Carlisle and Indiana. We are working on scheduling presentations for several other clubs, divisions and regions with the goal of reaching out to the largest clubs throughout Pennsylvania. For smaller groups and clubs, Nancy and I have been doing the presentations and for larger groups and clubs, a commission member and I do the presentation. Of course and by necessity at times, there have been some exceptions to this practice. Nancy and I, also, did a presentation at our District Convention in August.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has developed a “Learning is Everywhere” Calendar. Not a traditional calendar with dates, the calendar has activities that parents can do each month with their young children which will foster development. The Commonweath/State provides funds for the printing of 100,000 calendars. There is a need for many more. With help from Diane and me, Nancy developed a grant proposal to submit to our District Foundation to fund the printing and distribution of 20,000 more calendars. The proposal was unanimously endorsed by our District Board. The Foundation unanimously approved the proposal and is looking forward to doing so again, provided funding exists. The
calendars will be distributed through Kiwanis Clubs who will work with County Community Engagement Coordinators to insure that the calendars get to the families that most need them. The calendars will have a professionally printed Kiwanis logo on them. We will begin raising Kiwanis awareness on the calendars at our Midwinter conference via a forum and information table and will have a “mass” distribution of calendars at our District Convention in August along with a series of forums. We will be developing a reporting system so we can track where the calendars go. We are cautiously optimistic that after this first distribution, we will see a need for even more “Kiwanis funded” calendars. We have talked about applying to the Kiwanis International Foundation for additional funding.
On the first Friday in December, Diane, Nancy and I made a presentation to a meeting of all of the Community Engagement Coordinators; in Pennsylvania, there is a Community Engagement Coordinator in every county. We provided a presentation to them about Kiwanis, the ELIC/Kiwanis Partnership and the Calendar program. I, also, invited them to consider joining a Kiwanis Club in their county and we will be following up to make sure that as many as possible do as they will be partners in our efforts moving forward.

We have, also, been active in putting out information to all of our members. With the help of Kelly Swanson, Director of Communications & Policy for the PA Key, the attached article was placed in our District publication, The Keystone Kiwanian; the article can, also, be found under my page on our District webpage at this link: http://www.pakiwanis.org/about-pa-kiwanis/district-leadership/executive-director/. My understanding is that it will, also, be used or published in some form in a publication put out by the PA Key. We will be doing future articles such as this.

The upcoming budget year in Pennsylvania will be a difficult one with a deficit of at least four billion dollars apparently looming. We will be asking our Kiwanis Clubs, as a club with as many members possible signing, to send letters to their State Legislators and Senators as well as Governor Corbett to urge them to not cut those programs that provide quality early learning opportunities.

We have, also, identified those Kiwanians who serve as members of the State House and State Senate. With preparation help from Diane and Nancy, I will be visiting those Kiwanians, reminding them of the Kiwanis mission, our Young Children Priority One Program and urging them to support the Early Learning programs. I will be inviting some of our District Leadership Team to join me in this effort.

Finally, we tentatively have plans for our 2012 Midwinter Conference to have a panel discussion on the need for early learning and Kiwanis involvement at a luncheon. The panel will consist of an ELIC member, law enforcement officials as well as others including Kiwanians.

As you can see, a lot has happened since you were here last March and a lot will be happening. What’s exciting from my perspective is to see this partnership moving forward in a clear and steady path. Kiwanis in Pennsylvania is entering into and doing things we have not done before. We are becoming an organization that not only works for young children but advocates for them. We are entering into new partnerships. We are significantly raising Kiwanis awareness among business leaders and others. We are growing Kiwanis. It is really exciting to see this happening and to know the potential for the future as we really only have just begun our efforts here in Pennsylvania. From what I know (and you would know better than I), Kiwanis in Pennsylvania is a leader in the Kiwanis World in this kind of effort. Thanks for all you did to inspire the vision to make this possible and please feel free to ask any questions or offer any direction and suggestions.