United Way of Story County (UWSC) is a strategic leader in building countywide partnerships to identify needs and to develop, support and evaluate effective human services for our diverse community.
      The mission of the Story County Empowerment Board is to empower individuals and their communities to improve the well-being of children and their families.
      UWSC and Story County Empowerment have collaborated for the fourth year on the "Empowering Our Children" calendar project. The calendar was designed by Iowa State University College of Design students, and early childhood professionals developed the content. Staff from UWSC and Story County Empowerment are distributing the calendars to preschools and other organizations throughout Story County.
      The calendars will help parents prepare their 3- through 5-year-old children for school. Each month focuses on different learning topics, with suggested daily activities for families to do together.
      A family from Story City is excited about the Empowerment calendars. Mom, Natalie, has an in-home licensed daycare, and she uses the calendar to bring ideas to her daycare for activities and meals. She involves her own children with the calendar by preparing healthy meals that are suggested in the calendar and engaging her children to help fix the meals. Natalie also uses the calendar for activity ideas during walks with her children, like asking them to find something yellow. The family has used the suggestions on "learn your phone number" and "story telling."
      A family from Maxwell uses the calendar to get ideas for activities throughout the school year. The children enjoy marking off the days, and writing appointments and scheduled activities on the calendar for a clear way of looking toward their future plans.
      Amee Miller, family development specialist, MICA Head Start, said, "I use this calendar in my Family Development practice to engage families in activities and healthy snacks. It is a tool I use in meeting with families for the first time, introducing the calendar and helping them keep track of appointments and home visits. We also use the calendars to track special events going on in the classroom or with Head Start, such as meetings and show-and-tell days. This calendar gives great ideas to all the families we serve through Head Start."
      For more information about the calendars, please contact Frankee Oleson at UWSC, 515-268-5142 or Ann Lundvall at Story County Empowerment, 515-268-2276.