Early Childhood Community Champions Launch as Part of Full-Service Community Schools Bright Roads Initiative

June 21, 2025 - The Poughkeepsie City School District and the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet are launching the Early Childhood Community Champions initiative, creating a new system to support parents and caregivers of children ages 0-3 with evidence-based information about early learning and development. The program, part of the district's Full-Service Community Schools Bright Roads to Success initiative, aims to build shared accountability and ownership for kindergarten readiness through joyful social and cognitive development in the critical early years.

Trained on The Basics, building community, empathetic listening, local referrals and literacy resources, and basic need referrals, the Early Childhood Community Champions are working to enroll 500 caregivers into Basics Insights, a text-messaging program based on research from Boston Medical Center. The Basics

A parent and their child make a puppet together while visiting the Bright Roads to Success table at the City of Poughkeepsie Juneteenth Festival on June 21. 2025.

framework distills child development science into five simple principles: Maximize Love, Manage Stress; Talk, Sing, and Point; Count, Group, and Compare; Explore Through Movement and Play; and Read and Discuss Stories. Enrolled families receive age-appropriate text messages with practical strategies they can use immediately in daily routines.

The Champions are establishing institutional enrollment systems by partnering with pediatric practices, birthing hospitals, and daycare providers to reach families at key touchpoints. Pediatricians can enroll families during well-child visits, hospitals can connect new parents before they leave with their newborns, and daycare providers can introduce the program to families in their care. This approach recognizes that parents of infants and toddlers are not yet connected to schools, making traditional school-based outreach not as effective. Together, PCSD and the Cabinet are ensuring every Poughkeepsie family has access to the knowledge and confidence they need to support their child's early learning, beginning at birth rather than waiting until kindergarten.

Families in the Poughkeepsie City School District with children ages 0-3 can enroll in Basics Insights by completing this sign-up form and sending it to the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet via email (info@pkchildren.org) or mail (PO Box 688, Poughkeepsie, NY 12602).