Our Story: Early Childhood Matters with Story County Reads

In this April 13, 2021 Crucible of Practice Salon, Malai Amfahr, Story County Reads Director with the United Way of Story County, provided an overview of how Story County Reads operates, explained its assets-based approach and discussed how adopting Early Learning Nation strategies helped the coalition to work together even more closely in its work focused on early childhood.

Amfahr then introduced other panelists, some of her local partners who are key to the success of Story County Reads: Connie Beecher, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Iowa State University; Sadie Bohr, Healthy Futures & Nest Programs Coordinator at YSS; Lynne Carey, Board Member with Raising Readers in Story County; Nikki Fischer, ECI Area Director at Early Childhood Iowa – BooSt Together for Children; Jessica Miller, 1st Five Site Coordinator with Mid-Iowa Community Action; and Megan Thompson; Health Services Coordinator also with Mid-Iowa Community Action.

Each panelist discussed how they work together to contribute to the Story County Reads early childhood strategies, including providing healthy family support, promoting social-emotional well-being and developing early literacy skills. State and local stakeholders talked about how they support the work of the coalition, providers addressed the services they offer for families in the community and presenters all discussed how they collaborate and what they’ve learned working together throughout the pandemic.