Inclusion Grants

Inclusion Grants Will Benefit Many North State Children

An inclusive learning environment provides students with access to flexible learning choices, effective paths for achieving educational goals, and space where they experience a sense of belonging. This approach to education is based on the understanding that all children and families are valued equally and deserve access to the same opportunities.

Establishing a successful inclusive classroom can be a challenge as there is such a broad range of abilities, cultures, and other elements in every classroom. In several North State counties, inclusive learning will now be easier to incorporate thanks to two types of grants. These grants will increase access to inclusive early learning and child-care programs for young children.

1) Inclusive Early Learning and Care Coordination Program

The Inclusive Early Learning and Care Coordination program is a regional grant and focuses on giving children aged newborn to five years old increased access to inclusive early learning and care programs. “Inclusion is about everybody belonging,” states Joy Garcia, Shasta County Office of Education’s director of Inclusive Early Education. “We know from educational research that one skill we try to build in pre-school is social and emotional intelligence. Diversity and inclusion are the best ways to do that,” she explains.

To assist classrooms and care centers in implementing best practices for inclusion, participating providers will engage in a Facebook group instead of traditional training. This group will provide reminders on how to have a universal design for learning, including information on adaptive equipment and auditing the provider’s library to ensure that the books are representative of all the children in the classroom or childcare.

2) Inclusive Early Education Expansion

The second grant is called Inclusive Early Education Expansion. The goal of this grant is to assist local educational agencies. These monies allow for funding to expand on services that are already in place, such as the Help Me Grow program. Help Me Grow is utilized in many California counties, and part of its goal, Joy says, is to “organize community resources so that kids in the community have optimal opportunity to thrive.”.

Many times, parents are overwhelmed trying to navigate services, or they are not aware of available services. Help Me Grow utilizes the 211 information system to link families to resources best suited for them, made easier with the help of a Help Me Grow coordinator.

Ages and Stages

Another goal is to fund increased awareness and knowledge of appropriate developmental milestones among providers, parents, and caregivers. A screening known as the Ages and Stages Questionnaire can be a highly effective tool in assessing children who may be at risk in areas of communication, gross and fine motor, problem-solving skills, and social and emotional intelligence.  Joy explains that by doing these screenings, it allows the Shasta County Office of Education to do preemptive interventions; this is better than waiting until higher-level services are needed.

For more information, visit Help Me Grow Shasta.

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