CHILDPLAN MISSION AND BRIEF HISTORY
In 1991, the Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation encouraging communities to establish a means
to coordinate services provided to children and families. East Hartford responded by forming ChildPlan, Inc.
(ChildPlan), a volunteer organization comprised of municipal and community leaders who were interested in
assessing and providing for the needs of its children and families. In these early years, ChildPlan was run as
a volunteer organization and accomplished a series of initiatives that responded directly to the community’s
needs – including developing school-based health centers, family resource centers, a teen center, the wellness
center, a youth advisory board, the juvenile review board, and the local prevention council. While
communities responded to this legislation in different ways, East Hartford remains one of the few
communities in the state that continued with its commitment. Along the way, ChildPlan has challenged itself
to change to meet the needs of the community. As evidence of this, in 2003, ChildPlan incorporated and
received its 501(c)(3) non-profit status, therein formalizing its growth. This change also positioned
ChildPlan to not only serve as an organization that leads the collaboration to assess and provide for the needs
of children in East Hartford, but also to draw new resources to the community to meet the community’s
emerging priorities. Now eight years into its incorporation, and celebrating its 20 year anniversary as a
volunteer organization, ChildPlan is a thriving organization with a full-time
“ChildPlan has grown to
Executive Director and a full-time administrative assistant that serve as staff
become the umbrella
to a robust and highly engaged Board of Directors. The Board of Directors
organization for all programs
and services related to children
is comprised of thirty-five community leaders, business leaders, parents, and
and families. ChildPlan is
service providers that actively use ChildPlan as their major venue to
continually called upon as the
coordinate service delivery, integrate programs, collaborate with other
leading organization to
spearhead new initiatives &
professionals, and raise awareness of emerging issues, develop creative
partnerships that will benefit all
problem-solving, and develop a unified voice for the interests of East
children and families in East
Hartford.”
Hartford children and their families.
Susan Keane, ChildPlan
President
MAJOR PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
ChildPlan’s mission is to proactively and effectively collaborate with the East Hartford community to
improve the quality of the lives of children. To accomplish this mission, ChildPlan invites and fosters
collaboration between all of the community entities that reach children. Specifically, the major programs and
services include:
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Identify emerging needs & gaps in services for East Hartford children and families.
Problem-solving to find solutions to meet the community needs (e.g., connecting providers who can help each
other, raising awareness around an issue, or applying for a grant that fills a specific gap in services in the
community and serving as fiduciary for a direct service provider).
Providing Parent Advocacy Training Programs to teach parents how to advocate for their children and to become
engaged in their child(ren’s) school and community.
Fostering growth of programs and services for families by partnering with the East Hartford Public Schools, Town
of East Hartford and local businesses to open a Community Resource Center which will make social services more
accessible to families and to better serve the town’s growing minority population, especially the Hispanic
community.
While the services described above are at the core of ChildPlan, it is important to note that ChildPlan is a
“Discovery” Community, aligned with 54 other state communities through a multi-year grant from the
William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund. The yearly grant (since 2002) is used for programs and services
for children birth to 8 and their families. Three years ago, ChildPlan was one of 24 communities selected to
receive a $50,000 18-month grant to develop a Blueprint for children birth to eight. In 2009, ChildPlan
submitted their plan for review to the Memorial Fund and the Child Health and Development Institute and
was awarded a five-year $190,000 grant to oversee the implementation of the Plan.
Also, through the generous support of a three-year sustainability grant in 2006 from the Hartford Foundation
for Public Giving, ChildPlan was able to increase its Executive Director from 25 hours per week to full-time,
hire a Fund Development Consultant to help develop a Fund Development Plan, and hire a consultant to help
ChildPlan develop a 5 year Strategic Plan. This grant helped give ChildPlan time to seek not only
sustainable funds, but a plan for overall sustainability. ChildPlan is now the largest collaborative for children
and families in East Hartford and referred to as the umbrella organization for all programs and services
regarding children and families.
ChildPlan also seeks funds for afterschool programs through an annual grant from the SBM Charitable
Foundation. This grant allows ChildPlan to continue to provide approximately $20,000 per year in “mini”
grants for “out-of-school” programs and services to local agencies, organizations, early childcare providers,
and the East Hartford Public School System. In the past three years, the “mini” grants have provided over
500 students with a variety of different “out-of-school” programs and services through nine different
organizations and agencies. ChildPlan also seeks yearly grants from the East Hartford School Readiness
Council and local Family Resource Centers to provide programs and services for East Hartford’s youngest
residents (children to birth to 5).
ChildPlan’s partnership with the University of Connecticut Athletics’ Department, SBM Charitable
Foundation, East Hartford Youth Services (EHYS) and the East Hartford Middle School (EHMS) has
provided more than 120 at-risk middle school boys the opportunity to meet 8-10 times a year (for the past
three years) with UCONN Football players through the Goal Line Program, which was created by former
UCONN Football Coach Randy Edsall. The program, which began in 2007, teamed up football players with
the EHMS students for 6-8 weekly sessions during football season. The sessions were held at the Middle
School and facilitated by the EHYS “Youth-at-Risk” task force staff, the Middle School Physical Education
Department, the EHYS Director, and the ChildPlan Executive Director. The Goal Line students were invited
to a UCONN football game at Rentschler Field and a yearly field trip to the Burton Football Complex at the
UCONN Campus. In 2010, ChildPlan partnered with the UCONN Athletics Department, the SBM
Charitable Foundation and the East Hartford School-Based Health Center to provide a 6-week course for 1215 at-risk middle school girls. The after-school program was based on acquiring leadership skills and
positive relationships. The EHMS students were awarded a field trip to the UCONN Campus to meet with
the Women’s Leadership Peer Group, consisting of UCONN female athletes from over 10 different sports.
GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE
ChildPlan’s service area spans the town of East Hartford, home of 50,050 residents and more than 11,000
children (2010 Census). East Hartford is an 18 square mile area in the center of the Hartford Foundation for
Public Giving’s catchment area. While East Hartford is ripe for revitalization – with more than 75
diversified manufacturing plants, 1400 small businesses, and a prime land on the Connecticut River – the
town faces significant socio-economic hardship. As just a few examples, East Hartford exceeds the State
poverty rate (10.3% vs. 7.9% in 1999), exceeds the State unemployment rate (6.5% vs. 4.9% in 2004),
exceeds the State infant mortality rate (10.5% vs. 4.5% in 2001), and only 13% of East Hartford residents
have a college degree, compared with the State’s 31%.
While East Hartford is a small town, the impact of an investment in East Hartford’s children is significant for
the greater Hartford area. East Hartford is home to several businesses that are regional economic drivers –
including the Pratt and Whitney headquarters, which employs 7,200 in the Hartford area – and qualified
workers are vital to corporate retention. East Hartford is only three miles from the City of Hartford, and East
Hartford children are likely to grow, live, and work in nearby towns. Therefore, investments in East Hartford
children will be investments in the surrounding towns over time, as well. Building collaborative
relationships between the non-profit and for-profit sectors, just as ChildPlan does, creates vital patterns of
cooperation and improves the long-term overall prosperity of the greater Hartford area.