The BY5 team is in action this month!

We're hitting the ground running this month! Take a look at some of our recent and upcoming efforts, including a couple back-to-school events where we'll be passing out books to children, promoting On My Way Pre-K registration, and sharing more about BY5 with families. 

Last Week: Rising Readers Book Donations

Last week, BY5 happily donated more than 45 books to the Rising Readers program. Rising Readers runs from June–July and offers daily one-on-one reading tutoring to upcoming first- and second-graders at Muncie Community Schools. The program is offered in partnership between Ball State and Southview Elementary. After completing a week of tutoring, the kids get a free book to take home with them! 

July 27-28: Muncie Housing Authority Back-to-School Events

We'll be at Muncie Housing Authority's Back-to-School events from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on July 27 (at Earthstone Terrace) and July 28 (at Southern Pines). Open Door will be onsite to provide physicals and immunizations, and Chameleon Beauty College will be providing free haircuts and color pops. There will also be a few temp agencies present to accept job applications. Families can enjoy a DJ, food, bounce houses, train rides, and more!

July 22: Ross Community Center Health Fair 

We'll be at Open Door's Health Fair at Ross Community Center from 2–5 p.m. on July 22, where families can bring their children for free back-to-school physicals and immunizations (no appointment necessary). The event will also feature cooking demos, A1C (pre-diabetes) screenings, diabetes education, school giveaways, face painting, outdoor games and sports, bounce houses, and more! The Healthy Lifestyle Center and Delaware County Tobacco Free Coalition will also be onsite. 

Start your engines: It's the race to registration!

Racing season is here! If you think about it, a child's journey is similar to a race: they need a strong pit crew (teachers, parents, counselors, community resources, etc.) to get to that checkered flag (graduation) at the end of the road. But before they even begin, they have to get to the starting line first: pre-school and kindergarten.

Be sure to register your children now so they're set up for a strong race through their education! 

For those enrolling in Muncie Community Schools, check out their free Kickoff to Kindergarten event (9a–12p July 25–29), which teaches children the skills necessary to be a successful kindergartner by getting an early start on the school year. Learn more and register here.

And for those enrolling in pre-school, don't forget to check out On My Way Pre-K, a state-wide program that provides free pre-school to eligible 4-year-olds. As Delaware County’s lead agency for On My Way Pre-K, BY5 has provided over 95 Delaware County kids with free pre-school. Learn more here.

Muncie's 2022 Kindergarten Kick-Off

It's time to gear up for kindergarten!

Did you know that National Kindergarten Day is this month? There's no better time to make sure your child is fully prepared for kindergarten!

Join us at the Ross Community Center from 2:30–5:30 p.m. Friday, April 29 for our Kindergarten Kick-Off Event, co-hosted by Ross Community Center. Stop by to connect with local agencies that help kids make sure they have everything they need to be ready for kindergarten, and participate in a food drive, giveaways, games, and more! This kick-off is geared toward families with children ages 3-5 years old. We hope to see you there!

Stay up to date and let us know you're coming with our Kindergarten Kick-Off Facebook event.

BY5 receives $100k Stronger Together grant to support local childcare providers

MUNCIE, INDIANA — Muncie & Delaware County BY5 Early Childhood Initiative, Inc. has been awarded $100,000 from Early Learning Indiana to create a regional shared service hub that will help local childcare providers balance operational demands with providing affordable, quality care.  

“We are honored to receive a Stronger Together grant from Early Learning Indiana and Lilly Endowment to continue improving the childcare services in Delaware County,” said Missy Modesitt, executive director of BY5. “Through the creation of this regional pool of shared services, local childcare providers will be able to streamline their operations, save money and focus their time on providing quality early care and education.” 

BY5 is one of seven grant recipients from across Indiana. With the grant funds, BY5 will create shared services for childcare management systems, childcare provider training, and behavioral health strategies, as well as support childcare programs in Delaware County. 

“Early care and education providers operate with razor-thin margins as they juggle the actual cost of providing care and the ability of families to afford it,” said Maureen Weber, president and CEO of Early Learning Indiana. “The organizations we’ve awarded Stronger Together grants will directly impact the sustainability of local providers, influence the affordability of care for families, and enable providers to focus their scarce time and resources on the business of learning.” 

In addition to awarding grant funding, Early Learning Indiana has partnered with Opportunities Exchange (OppEx) to offer technical assistance to all grantees. OppEX is a national nonprofit consulting group working to transform the business of early care and education to improve child outcomes and ensure practitioners are well-compensated and work in supportive environments.  

Learn more about the Stronger Together grant at earlylearningin.org/stronger-together.  

BY5 distributes 600 ‘kindergarten readiness’ backpacks to students throughout Delaware County

MUNCIE, INDIANA — Six hundred new kindergarteners in Delaware County are off to a “strong start” thanks to Muncie & Delaware County BY5 Early Childhood Initiative, Inc. and the Early Learning Indiana Strong Start Program. The young students received kindergarten readiness backpacks filled with reading, math and language arts materials to use throughout the remainder of the summer.

The backpacks—made possible by a $25,000 grant from the Strong Start Program—were distributed by BY5 at kindergarten registration events at several schools across Delaware County. Each backpack contained a book, a counting puzzle activity and a rhyming game. They also included a kindergarten transition guide for parents.

“Kindergarten readiness is one of the main indicators for later-in-life success, so we are grateful to offer this opportunity for families to work on important concepts that prepare a child for kindergarten,” said Missy Modesitt, executive director of BY5.

According to BY5’s website, children who are ready for kindergarten by the age of 5 are 17 percent more likely to graduate from high school and four times more likely to graduate from college. Being ready for kindergarten also makes someone 46 percent more likely to have a full-time job and 20 percent more likely to earn a strong salary by the age of 40.

These numbers aren’t just beneficial to the individual—they are also indicators of greater economic vitality for an entire community. BY5 aims to transform the community by connecting kindergarten readiness to economic success.

To learn more about BY5 and the importance of kindergarten readiness, visit muncieby5.org.

3 ways you can celebrate National Literacy Month

Did you know that September is National Literacy Month? Reading is an important habit to start, whether your child is four months old or four years old—it’s never too late to build reading into your relationship with your child.   

Below are a few ways you can prepare for National Literacy Month. Take a look, make a plan, and be ready on September 1st!  

1. Visit a Little Free Library

These take-a-book, leave-a-book depots are perfect spots to find a new read or swap out your old books. All books are free. Check out our list of libraries and find one near you here.

2. Enjoy virtual programming from Muncie Public Library

Even though Muncie Public Library may not have open buildings right now, they still offer lots of opportunities to build literacy. Their online catalog is still available to place books on hold, which you can then go pick up at one of the Library branches. The best part? Like all Muncie Public Library resources, this service is free. For more information on how to check out a book for your child, call 765-741-7333 (for Kennedy) or 765-741-5151 (for Maring-Hunt.)

3. Sign up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Maybe it’s been hard for your family to get out of the house. The good news is that through a United Way program called Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, you can have a picture book delivered to your home every month for free. Want to sign up and start getting free children’s books mailed to your door? Click here to sign up.

5 Numbers Demonstrating BY5's 2018 Success

Our 2018 Annual Report recently released! Here are a few highlights that show a few of the ways BY5 has been successful in the past year.

1 Statewide Award 

Last fall, BY5 was honored with the Lilly 2018 Community Early Learning Champion Award. This award recognized the ways BY5 has not just been a leader in Delaware County, but acted as a positive example of what early childhood action can look like to coalitions throughout the state.

37 Little Free Libraries

The number of Little Free Libraries strategically placed around Delaware County grew to 37 in 2018. These take-a-book, leave-a-book depots not only offer books for children, but allow adults to pick up reading material for themselves for free—modeling the importance of literacy for the young people in their lives.

18,000+ Diapers

Since launching the Diaper Bank of Delaware County in 2018, BY5 has distributed over 18,000 diapers to community diaper banks around the county. The diapers don’t just help the children in need—supplying this costly expense to struggling families also helps them economically.

100 Smiling Children

One specific way BY5 helped support community literacy efforts this year was by donating books to Open Door Health Services for their annual community holiday party. Open Door said the books were given away to 100 children at that event, who were enthusiastic to receive engaging reading material.

500 Partner Engagements

BY5 counted over 500 engagements with partners in the BY5 Network in 2018. An engagement can be anything from volunteering to read a story with our Ready Set Read program, to hosting a Little Free Library, to a full-on organizational partnership. BY5 is thrilled to be able to work with such a diverse range of partners to help better the lives of children in our community.

5 Facts About Nature Play

Nature Play Days is almost here! If you’re not familiar, Nature Play Days is a week-long event in June (June 8–16 this year) that aims to get as many families outside doing free, nature-based activities in the community as possible. Nature Play Days is put on by the Indiana Children and Nature Network and administered locally by BY5. There will be close to 60 Nature Play Days activities going on in Delaware County during the week.

Since Nature Play Days is so close, it’s a great time to familiarize yourself with the benefits of nature play. Below are a few ways that being outside can help children grow, develop, and thrive.

1. School gardens positively impact children's learning and behaviors.

Gardening has myriad benefits for children: it gives them a chance to interact positively with local ecosystems, helps them understand the food chain, and research shows it can also positively impact test scores. If you have a garden near you, invite your kids to help dig—the benefits of their experience will go far!

2. Children benefit from appropriate risk-taking during outdoor play.

Risk-taking is a part of life, and the ability to make independent decisions about one’s actions is key for success in school, work, and life. Letting children take risks in the context of a natural environment helps their development of risk assessment immensely.

3. Nature reduces stress in children.

One 2003 study from Cornell showed that even having a view of nature helped reduce stress in highly-stressed children. When children are allowed to play in green space, stress levels went down further.

4. Direct experience in nature contributes to multiple developmental capacities. 

According to Dr. Stephen R. Kellert, who wrote Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection, “Play in nature, particularly during the critical period of middle childhood, appears to be an especially important time for developing the capacities for creativity, problem-solving, and emotional and intellectual development.” Exposing children to green spaces helps their brains for life.

5. Childhood experiences in nature are tied to adult attitudes toward the environment.

For adults concerned about the environment, taking a young child into nature on a regular basis may help. Children who are exposed to places like woods, walking trails, and other natural spaces are more likely to have positive attitudes toward the environment as adults.