The following was published in The Herald of New Britain on August 23, 2008
Answering the Call of Community Stewardship
By Gerry Amodio
Summer’s end is near, and if you can’t tell by the calendar you will surely to be reminded by the sound of school bells echoing throughout our neighborhoods. This season of change reminds us of the ever-changing nature of life, and of the responsibility we all face to grow, evolve and adapt as the world places ever-greater challenges before us.
These challenges, of course, come in many shapes and sizes, some more readily apparent than others. But as a collective community, as a region striving to work together to build a better future, no challenge is perhaps quite as apparent as the need to properly nurture and educate our children.
This job is one of shared responsibility, whether you are a parent, educator or even, like me, a local business owner. No one has to tell me about the incalculable value of a healthy, educated, motivated and responsible work force; it is the backbone upon which our society is built, and upon which our very future depends.
This critical need is why the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain has adopted early childhood development as its signature issue. The Foundation’s First Years First initiative is a $1 million, five-year commitment to prepare Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington children for success in school – and in life – through enhanced early childhood development.
The effort is paying dividends. Thanks in part to the work of the New Britain Discovery Collaborative, a First Years First grantee, approximately 75 percent of children entering kindergarten in New Britain today have attended preschool, up from less than 40 percent only a few short years ago. The Early Childhood Professional Educator’s Consortium, led by the early childhood development professionals at Tunxis Community College and funded by First Years First, is bringing day care providers together from throughout the area and raising quality standards. These are just two examples of multiple efforts taking place throughout the Foundation’s four service communities, thanks in part to First Years First.
From a historical perspective, this investment is representative of the Community Foundation’s desire to enhance its community stewardship by seeking greater, more definable results from the grants we make – in fact, to adapt to our changing world. For decades, community foundations nationwide have proven to be invaluable contributors to the quality of life in the cities and towns they serve, and here it is no different: Thanks to the support of thousands of caring citizens past and present, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain awards upwards of $1 million annually to deserving nonprofit agencies, programs and initiatives.
The Community Foundation’s dedicated board of directors has spent the past two years working hard at evaluating who we are and what our role in the community can and should be. This process has resulted in adoption of new community investment guidelines which will help the Foundation and its grantees partner more effectively to achieve measurable human gain; a reaffirmation of our commitment to strengthen and expand our rich arts and cultural community, with a new resolve to link these programs and institutions with our area’s economic and community development efforts; and, of course, the establishment of First Years First.
Through these newly energized efforts, the Foundation hopes to be an even more relevant and vital agent for change as our communities address a myriad of new challenges yet to come. As school bells ring throughout our region, rest assured that the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain is answering the call.
Gerry Amodio is Chief Operating Officer of New Britain-based Amodio Worldwide Moving and Storage, Inc., and Chairman of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain.
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