The thrive by
five initiative started with the release
of a study published by One Voice for Volusia and the
Community Agenda titled thrive by five:
ensuring hope, health & happiness in early childhood.
The study was released on February 4, 2009, to an
audience of over 20 community leaders. At that
initial meeting, the group in attendance decided to take
action on one of the study's key recommendations:
"The
community efforts on behalf of our youngest residents
should be coalesced to better provide efficient and
effective services and generally enhance early childhood
systems. A review of existing services to identify
opportunites for intergrated service delivery would be
beneficial for children and their families as well as
child-serving organizations. Funding proves to be
a barrier identified by many sectors and/or
organizaions. To start the dialogue, convene a
work group dedicated to coordinate activities, integrate
services and maximize current resources among the
existing providers. This work group would seek
ways to maximize revenues and "connect the dots" among
services to improve service delivery. To achieve
the best outcomes, interventions should occur as early
as possible. It is particularly important to
identify and serve children with disabilities at the
earliest point possible.
A Steering Committee of
agency leaders was named at the meeting and tasked with
the development of a Strategic Plan. The Steering
Committee met monthly begining in March 2009 and
concluded their initial work in May 2010. The
draft plan was presented to community leaders on May 25,
2010, who helped prioritize strategies for additional
planning and action in 2010-11. The Steering
Committee continued to meet regularly to guide plan
implementation. The Strategic Plan was revised in
September 2011 and new priority strategies were
identified for 2011-12.
In September 2012 a Leadership
Roundtable was convened bringing together Executive
Directors, Presidents and CEOs of over 20 organizations
serving the youngest residents in Flagler and Volusia
Counties, Florida. Through the use of
Source Problem Analysis two of the seven Desired
Outcomes were identified for priority action. It was
agreed that taking action on these two Desired Outcomes
woud have the greatest impact on all seven Desired
Outcomes.
The two Desired Outcomes
selected for priority action are Early Childhood
Education and Family Involvement. The Strategy
Team will meet in early 2013 to refine the strategies
and develop action steps to implement the plan in
2013-14.
