The town of Windham is located in the central part of the northeastern section of the state. Windham is unique in that its geographic layout includes a small urban core, the city of Willimantic, which until 15 years ago maintained a separate government from the town of Windham. In 1998, the town's population of 21,534 included 14,746 residents who reside in the 4.5 square mile area of Willimantic; 26% were under age 18. Windham has the third largest Latino population in Connecticut (20% of total population) and 78% of the total Latino population in the county.

Windham ranks 164th of the 169 towns in its level of median household income of $36,196 and has a poverty rate (1990) of 15.15%. Per capita income in 1998 was $16,822. In 1990, of all the communities in Connecticut, Windham ranked second only to Hartford in per capita rate of participation in general assistance and fifth in the state for AFDC recipients as percentage of population.

The Windham Public School District is included among the state's Priority School Districts, which have the greatest need to improve student achievement and enhance educational opportunities. On the Connecticut Mastery, fewer than 25% of Windham students achieve mastery in reading, writing and mathematics. During the 1997-98 school year, 54.3% of students received free or reduced-price meals and 17% have a language other than English spoken at home. According to the 1997-98 Connecticut Strategic School Profile, the ethnic breakdown of students is: White 51.2%, Black 5.3%, Hispanic 42.6%, Asian American 0.6%, and American Indian 0.3%.

Windham has four elementary schools in the district and several center-based programs including one Head Start program, one Even Start program, one public school preschool program, two publicly funded childcare centers and two private childcare centers. All of these preschool and childcare centers are included in the new School Readiness program that was developed cooperatively by all center-based programs in the town. Students with a preschool experience entering kindergarten in 1997 represented 62.2% as compared with 44.8% five years earlier.

The Windham Children First Initiative was conceived through a partnership between the Windham Public Schools and the Windham Regional Community Council. Those founding partners developed a guiding collaborative body which included almost all local service providers related to early care and education. Over the past four years membership has included all childcare centers, the children's department of the public library, and the Eastern Connecticut State University and University of Connecticut Education Departments. In addition, the CFI guiding body has included individual parents who provided considerable leadership, as well as representatives from the local adult education program, family resource centers, the community action program, the family home childcare association, EASTCONN's Parents in Partnership program, Windham Memorial Hospital, the Town of Windham, the CT State Department of Social Services and the CT Commission on Children. Significant consultation to this group is provided by the local regional educational service center, EASTCONN, which assisted with the collaborative's transition to becoming Windham's School Readiness Council and provides ongoing technical assistance.

When the School Readiness legislation was passed, Windham's First Selectman appointed the CFI guiding body as a whole to become the School Readiness Council. The town's Human Services Director and Assistant Superintendent play key roles on the Council's Management Team with the Council chair, who is a parent member of the Board of Education, and another Council parent representative. The recently formed Windham Parent Network, a grassroots parent-led advocacy group, also sits on the Council and provides leadership through participation in the Steering Committee. Additional players have been added through their sponsorship of Council/CFI community events. These sponsors have included local businesses, banks, religious organizations, the radio station, and the regional United Way.

Windham is a low-to-moderate income former mill town and a Board of Selectmen governs the town. The town relies heavily on property taxes from private homeowners to pay for city services. The grand list includes very little private industry to contribute to tax payments. This results in a very conservative approach to municipal and education expenditures due to the limited tax base.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one. There is a growing group of independent voters although they represent less than 20% of the population. The town has an interesting mix of unskilled laborers and the faculty and staff of the local universities, and an active coalition of more progressive voters has developed. Some progressive victories include the funding of a new middle school three years ago, which passed by four votes.

In recent years, the school budget has been consistently cut, with last year resulting in a million-dollar reduction. As a result, the Windham Children First Parent Specialists were not absorbed into the school budget after they were no longer funded through CFI. Although the town contributes significantly to human services, it is often difficult to obtain funding for new initiatives.

Windham's previous First Selectman was an individual who supported children's issues, and he spearheaded an approach approved by the Board of Selectmen that created an early childhood "village" in which programs mixed their funding to create blended programs. Recently this First Selectman was elected to the state legislature so it remains to be seen what the new First Selectman's commitment to children's issues will be.

In December 1999 the Council conducted a major community organization initiative with encouragement and support from the Graustein Memorial Fund. An evening planning session, sponsored by almost all key services providers, the Windham Parent Network, the local university, funding sources and the Chamber of Commerce, resulted in participation by 44 parents and 60 professionals. This bilingual event resulted in identification of priorities regarding child well-being, parent involvement and organization sensitivity to family needs. The outcomes from this event will guide the future work of the Children First Initiative.

Collaboration in Windham has increased significantly with the implementation of the Children First Initiative. The collaborative application for School Readiness funds resulted in what is now called the "Providers' Collaborative." In addition, many organizations came forward to share resources to support the work of the School Readiness Council and a Resource Inventory was developed which identifies which organizations will provide which resources to assist with Council work. For example, our Parent Intervention Program provided written translation services for Council documents, the Eastern Connecticut State University provided resources for mailings, the Regional Department of Social Services office provided typing support and some translation as well. In addition, a wide variety of organizations gave concrete resources such as materials, mailings, and staff to support the recent community event. Collaboration is also evident in the current planning process to design the early childhood center which will house blended classrooms from several preschool programs. Planning has included more collaboration through a community-wide group of key early childhood providers, public school staff and parents, which developed the preschool-to-kindergarten policy brought to the Board of Education for approval.

Challenges to collaboration include the guidelines of various funding streams, especially federal dollars that limit local control regarding funding for quality. Also the Connecticut Health and Education Financing Authority requires that School Readiness funding be continued regardless of program performance or participation in collaborative processes. Another challenge to collaboration is the history of rewarding competition for scant resources.