Afternoon with Legislators
Date of Project: 2008
Name of Coalition: Thief River Falls
MIF: Northwest Minnesota Foundation,
Project Overview: We invited our Senator and Representative to visit the early childhood wing at Challenger Elementary School. The visit was set up for 1:00PM, with time to spend in the Head Start classroom, the Promise (high need) classroom, School Readiness, Kindergarten, and to visit with our Family Advocate and staff from Ready 4 K and NMF. Later, we had a social hour with refreshments and time for more informal conversation with the legislators and community members, including school administrators.
Cost of Project:
# of Children 0-5 Served: 0
# of Children 6-18 Served: 0
# of Adults Served: 0
# Families Served: 0
Lessons Learned/Outcomes: The legislators stayed in each classroom for as long as possible, speaking with the children, teachers and parents. They read with the children and listened to the staff explain what was happening and talk about the needs of the children and families. Our Senator has been in the Legislature for a long time, but our Representative is new, so their needs are different. Both seemed very happy to do this and said they learned a lot. At the social hour, they had a chance to speak with many people and hear different perspectives. Andy Hyser was present from Ready 4 K to talk about the public policy agenda.
Project Frequency: