The Outreach Coordinator position was a 35-hour staff member of Meriden's Children First Initiative. The majority of the staff time was spent out in the community. Hours for the position were flexible to meet the needs of families.

The Outreach Coordinator responsibilities were to communicate, support and promote within the minority population the Children First vision: "All Meriden children will come to school ready to learn and will be successful."

In 1997 Meriden's Children First Initiative formed a Minority Outreach Taskforce to identify ways to better serve the minority and low-income communities. After months of talking with local citizens, the consensus was that a staff person, focusing primarily on those communities, be hired. Funding was secured through a generous contribution from the Meriden Foundation, which also participated in discussions with the taskforce. Other funding had been received from the United Way Venture Grant and through a State of Connecticut Library Grant.

The Coordinator worked directly with parents of children age 0-8, primarily in the Hispanic community. She assisted parents in accessing existing resources both for themselves and for their children. For example, for the Children First-funded Program START, a summer orientation for incoming kindergarten children run by the Meriden Public Schools, she identified children and assisted them in the registration process. She worked with other outreach workers in the community to coordinate efforts. She also recruited parents for the Parent Leadership Training Institute and other parent courses and support groups. She worked with the Bookmobile Librarian to bring the Bookmobile to parents in the community housing projects. Her translation services throughout these efforts were most helpful.

Meriden's Children First Initiative has always helped initiate new ideas, supported the Coordinator's efforts, and assessed progress. But CFI has made a point to stay out of the program's management so that it can become self-sufficient or incorporated into an existing system or organization.

With the work of the Outreach Coordinator for CFI, more parents became involved in trainings or workshops, took on leadership roles, and did outreach to other parents they knew. The outreach workers facilitated their own training meetings. The Board of Education began analyzing its present outreach workers to determine if another position with a different focus was desirable to support the CFI vision.

One primary challenge is maintaining the momentum of parents engaged in leadership roles. The goal is for their voices and their enthusiasm to continue so that other parents will participate in the work to improve children's outcomes. The program needs to focus on what has been accomplished and to look at its progress and impact on the community. It also needs to continually strive to reach the "authentic voices" so that new ideas or concerns may be addressed.

One major change is that various community outreach workers now come together to learn of available resources and to share concerns among themselves. The efforts to maintain ongoing meetings are commendable. The collaborative efforts with the Bookmobile and Literacy Volunteers have increased positive outcomes for the community.

Because she has a child with a learning disability, Hilda Santiago knows what it takes to ensure that children get the services they need in the school system. "A lot of what I went through with raising my own two children I bring to the table. I think that made me a stronger parent and I wanted to show other parents that there are a lot of other resources out there, that they aren't alone, and a program like CFI can give them those resources to advocate for their children."

Because of her own experience, she eventually worked for Head Start and served as an outreach worker in Meriden. She got involved when she was asked as a prominent member of the Latino community to help get more minority participation in CFI programs. So she helped set up focus groups with the Latino families to find out their concerns and needs. Recently, she became the Children First Initiative Board Chair. "As CFI chair, I am helping the outreach facilitator move the mission along. . . . Our goals are in building parent capacity and making sure CFI is out there in the community."

Ms. Santiago notes that "what CFI did most in Meriden was bring all the social service agencies, the administration of the Board of Ed, the administration of city hall and parents to the table. This is the first time that the social services agencies all worked together. This was the first time they worked for a common goal with the parents sitting right next to them."