CLEARFIELD—The Davis County Health Department (DCHD) is partnering with Waterford.org to provide young families a one-stop-shop for community resources to find the support they need. Both entities offer families assistance ranging from nutrition to early learning through “connection visits,” where staff can get to know them to better understand their needs.

“The ultimate goal is to help families understand what resources the community has for them,” said Sabrina Harman, Director of Family Health and Nursing, Davis County Health Department. “It’s a holistic approach of making sure all of their needs are met such as catching things early. Not only to make sure kids are progressing as they should be but for parents to know their kids are doing OK.”

Harman said during the connection visits they meet the family where they are. “Whether someone comes in for WIC, immunizations, or another health service, we want to make sure they also walk away with tools to support their child’s growth in every area – including early learning.”

Haley Bemis, Clinical Services Bureau Manager, Davis County Health Department visits with a client at one of the Pop into the Park events where they provide families with the resources they need. A recent partnership with Waterford.org gives the learning piece. Courtesy photo

Waterford UPSTART is a free state funded in-home program that prepares children for kindergarten through early literacy while also providing other school-ready skills. 

“We have a common goal,” said Harman. “We both want to help children thrive and help support parents through this time. It makes sense (to partner) because they’re closely aligned with us.”

“It was great to work with DCHD to make sure families in these early ages hear about this opportunity for learning,” said Waterford.org Communications Manager, Gretchen Willard. “Waterford UPSTART is available for kids getting ready for kindergarten, 4-year-olds, and it gives them support in reading, math and science so that they’ll be prepared when they enter kindergarten.”

Kids can use UPSTART wherever they learn, she said. “They can work with their parents and caregivers to use the program to get ready for kindergarten. We love hearing from families who have so much success with their kids learning, but also being excited to learn. Families are saying things like ‘my kids can’t wait for me to get them on and they sing the songs and they’re really having fun with it.’”

Willard said that’s what it’s meant to be. “We want it to be something that families are doing together, that parents are doing with their children. It’s exciting to hear their stories and to see the enthusiasm.”

“We provide our adaptive software to any child who is pre-kindergarten age through state funding so families have to pay nothing for it,” said Kim Fischer, VP of Marketing and Communications for Waterford.org. “The program is adaptive so it figures out right off the bat where that child is in their learning progress. Then it goes right along with them.”

The great thing is the kids only use this program for 15 minutes a day, she said. “That’s it for reading. Now there’s an optional 15 minutes of math and science that the kids absolutely love so we always encourage it.”

Families have coaches, said Fischer. “So as they’re going through this process with the child they have a coach that they can call and the coaches call and check on them to see how their child is doing on the program. They can get together and talk about ways to overcome any obstacles the child may be experiencing.”

There are printouts the kids can use, she said. “They’re really fun ways that you know your child is learning capital letters. So print out this resource and you can all read together. It really brings the family members into the learning process with the child through that entire year before they go to kindergarten.”

Fischer said they ask families to use the program five days a week. “They can choose what five days. Just 15 minutes of reading and the average child will enter kindergarten reading at a nearly first grade level.”

That’s exactly why the DCHD would want to work with Waterford UPSTART, she said. “We are a free resource to families thanks to state funding and it truly is the one resource that families can use at no cost to prepare their child academically for school.” 

“When organizations work together for a warm hand off it creates trust for the families,” said Harman. “We’re trying to raise awareness that the program exists so that families realize they could benefit from it or a friend or community could benefit from it.”

The DCHD program supports children 0-8. For an appointment call or text 801-525-4960 or visit their website at https://www.daviscountyutah.gov/health/home/. For more information about the Waterford UPSTART program visit waterford.org.