Middlesex Coalition for Children
Improving the lives of Children in Middletown and Middlesex County
Advocacy Partners
The Middlesex Coalition for Children does not do its work alone. There are a number of other Middletown-based coalitions that work to improve outcomes for children and families through prevention, advocacy, fundraising, and systems change.
If you are interested in joining in the work of any of these partner coalitions, see the list below and contact their leadership.
Our primary partnership is with Opportunity Knocks and Middletown School Readiness Council who along with the Coalition for Children, make up Middletown's Early Childhood Collaborative. Additionally, the Coalition partners with the Middletown Youth Service Bureau and the Middletown LIST/GMCC: Substance abuse and Mental/Behavioral Health and the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition among others.
Opportunity Knocks (OK) is a community collaborative of families, child care providers, health and mental health providers and others who want to make sure our youngest children are healthy and ready for school. We work together on issues like making sure families have access to developmental screening for their young children and child care teachers have support for creating healthy classrooms. There are two work groups: Social, Emotional and Behavioral Health and Nutrition and Physical Activity.
www.middletownearlychildhood.org
Interested in Joining a group?
Contact Monica Belyea to join
monica.belyea@midhosp.org
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The role of Youth Service Bureaus is to serve as an advocate for youth and is dictated by state statute "as the coordinating unit of community-based services to provide comprehensive delivery of prevention, intervention, treatment and follow-up services" for children and youth. These services are designed to "meet the needs of youth by the diversion of troubled youth from the justice system as well as by the provision of opportunities for all youth to function as responsible members of their communities"
Justin Carbonella: Youth Services Coordinator
The Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS),]changes the lives of low-income children and families across Connecticut by pioneering pathways from poverty to opportunity and from financial insecurity to capability and success.
Our goal is, as it has been since 1910, nothing short of the elimination of poverty in Connecticut.
Elizabeth Fraser: efraser@cahs.org
Founded in 2002, the Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance is a statewide organization committed to improving outcomes in the areas of learning, health, safety and economic security, for children ages birth to eight. Our goal is for all children in Connecticut to enter kindergarten healthy, eager to learn, and ready for school success. Our guiding vision is that families have strategies and capacity for early care and education so that each child is supported by comprehensive and interconnected services including early learning, nutrition, and social, emotional, and physical health.
Director: Merrill Gay:merrill@earlychildhoodalliance.com
The mission of Connecticut Voices for Children is to promote the well-being of all of Connecticut’s young people and their families by advocating for strategic public investments and wise public policies. Connecticut Voices for Children advances its mission through high quality research and analysis, strategic communications, community education, and development of the next generation of advocates.
The School Readiness Preschool Program provides affordable, high-quality early care and education services in high-need communities that help young children prepare for kindergarten. The program funds spaces for children ages 3, 4, and 5 who aren’t yet eligible for kindergarten. At least 60 percent of the children enrolled must be at or below 75 percent of the State Median Income.
The School Readiness Preschool Program benefits individual children, their families, and their communities. Middletown is very fortunate to qualify for this grant and makes every effort to assist parents/guardians in securing care for their preschool aged children.
www.middletownearlychildhood.org
Director: Dawn Dubay
The Middletown Racial Justice Coalition intends to interrupt and dismantle institutional and systemic racism through community-led action, healing, and organizing. By cultivating a coalition of Middletown community members, leaders, agitators, and decision makers, we work to re-imagine and spark transformative change in people, systems, and institutions in order to create racially equitable outcomes.
Using a lens that centers the lives, voices, and experiences of BIPOC (Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color), the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition strives to create a city where BIPOC can heal from racism in ways that are liberating and joyful.
Director: Precious Price 1-860-316-4459
As a labor union representing over 22,000 active and retired public service employees, we strive to provide the very best for our members. Our members have fought to establish, protect and increase public service employees' voices on the job. From bargaining at the negotiating table to lobbying at the State Capitol; from representing workers at the State Board of Labor Relations to testifying to the Connecticut General Assembly; from electing candidates committed to increasing opportunities for working families to holding politicians accountable once elected, we are the voice of Connecticut's public employees and retirees.
Eva Bermúdez Zimmerman: ebermudez@csea760.com
End Hunger Connecticut! is a statewide anti-hunger and food security organization. By focusing on advocacy, outreach, education and research, EHC! serves as a comprehensive anti-hunger resource for policymakers, community organizations, and low-income families. The work of EHC! is vital to the visibility and coordination of various federal food assistance programs that are meant to lower the prevalence of food insecurity and hunger. The goal of EHC! is to improve the levels of food security and nutrition among Connecticut families while creating and supporting policies that move families toward self-sufficiency.
The Connecticut Children’s Collective is a network of local partnerships creating positive outcomes for Connecticut’s children and families. We believe that when we’re all swimming in the same direction and coordinating our efforts great things can be accomplished.
Barbara V. Vita, M.Ed
bvita@ctafterschoolnetwork.org
860 730-3371