Promising Minds Early Childhood Program Provider Application Online Application Deadline: Tuesday, November 1, 2019 by 12 pm Hawaii Standard Time Child care and other early childhood programs are invited to apply to participate in Hawaii Community Foundation’s new Promising Minds initiative through a collaborative learning program referred to as the Community of Practice (CoP).
Background HCF has identified the wellbeing and development of our children under age five as a critical community issue at the heart of strengthening Hawai‘i’s communities. Early childhood development is a smart investment. Promising Minds Initiative When the brain is developing at its most rapid rate and babies are forming important social connections, it is easier to lay the foundations for a lifetime of positive behavioral health and wellbeing. The Promising Minds Initiative exists to increase the healthy development of vulnerable children ages 0-5 and build resilience in those who have already experienced the negative effects of trauma in their short lives. Through the Promising Minds Initiative, we hope to set the foundations for positive early childhood behavioral health resulting in long-term benefits to individual children and families, as well as more children on-track for Kindergarten with social, emotional and academic readiness. A key goal of Promising Minds is to create trauma-responsive early care and education settings with well-trained practitioners who know how to support the healthy development of all children, including our most vulnerable children. Trauma-informed settings promote positive development and help families cope with challenges; these environments help to decrease family stressors and increase the quality of the child-caregiver relationship which can buffer against toxic stress and trauma. In traumaresponsive programs, practitioners know how to address challenging behavior and what is often underlying the behavior, as well as how to set up safe environments that promote social and emotional growth. The Promising Minds initiative is funded by Samuel and Mary Castle Foundation, the Gwenfread Elaine Allen Fund, and the Kōaniani Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation.
Eligibility Organizations that currently serve children ages 0-5 in any of these four recognized early childhood settings: child care centers, family child interaction learning programs, licensed family child care, and home-based programs such as home visiting. Organizations may be public, private or non-profit entities. In order to be considered, organizations with more than one program site should indicate a single site to
Version 2 – updated 9/26/2019