JOHN DAY  Kids in Grant and Harney county could have a jump start on learning, thanks to a new effort recently approved by the state.

Officials in the two counties recently learned the Frontier Oregon Services Hub (Frontier Hub) was conditionally approved as one of the first six early learning hub pilot projects in Oregon.

The Frontier Hubs mission is to create a coordinated system of community-based services to support children prenatal through kindergarten helping them achieve early learning outcomes that result in a high rate of kindergarten attendance.

The goals are to help children become kindergarten-ready, promote childrens upbringing in stable and attached families, and integrate and align services into one early learning system focused on results.

The hub will engage a variety of sectors public schools, preschools, child care providers, businesses, health care providers, social services, families, and others to ensure services are meeting regional and community needs.

Harney County will serve as the fiscal agent and leader of the two-county hub, which will include the Burns Paiute Tribe to coordinate early learning services throughout both counties. Early Childhood Center director Donna Schnitker, and grant writer Patty Dorroh will be leads in Harney County. Teresa Aasness, executive director of Families First Parent Resource Center in John Day, will head up the project for Grant County.

News of the projects approval came in a letter from the Oregon Department of Education Early Learning Counsel and Early Learning Division, saying the counties had been chosen to move forward with their project. Aasness said the effort has been in the works for three years.

The approval is huge, she said, noting that, beside Lake County which is collaborating with Douglas County, the Frontier Hub is the only one selected in Eastern Oregon, and not on the I-5 corridor.

Aasness said she hopes the project will help service providers reach all kids in the county to help them become ready to learn.

She said that for many families, obtaining services can be difficult.

If we coordinate our resources and services, we can do better connecting services to help families truly find what they need and better serve children and families, she said.

Families First and other organizations are currently working with families to make sure kids are ready for kindergarten, and make sure that all kids receive developmental screenings before kindergarten. The Frontier Hub work will further enhance these efforts, Aasness said.

Aasness noted that developmental screenings are an integral component of school readiness.

Screening tools look at strengths and trouble spots, educate parents about developmental milestones, and incorporate parents expert knowledge about their children, she said. If trouble spots are identified early, we can provide parents with activities, or appropriate referrals, to increase their childs strengths in that area and be ready to learn upon kindergarten entry.

She added that statistics show that if a child is not functioning at grade level by third grade, their chance of success is diminished.

Parents can contact Families First to receive more information or to enroll in services for their child/children, which could include resources, home visiting activities and screenings to make sure children are on track developmentally.

Anyone interested in participating in the formation of the Frontier Hub can contact Aasness at 541-575-1006. The next meeting of the Early Childhood Committee, a local advisory board to the hub, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18, at Families First.

The project ties in with Oregons 40-40-20 plan, which states that by 2025 all adult Oregonians will achieve a high school diploma or equivalent, and 40 percent, will hold an associates degree or a meaningful postsecondary certificate, and 40 percent will hold a bachelors degree or advanced degree. Aasness said the states goal is to have all the counties in the state involved in an early learning hub.

Between now and Jan. 31, Aasness and others involved in the Frontier Hub will develop a 5-year work plan with input from both counties. Officials from the Early Learning Division in Salem will visit in January to help finalize their project.

They want us to succeed, she said.

She believes Grant and Harney counties project was approved because of the strong partnerships that already exist.

In frontier counties, we have to rely on each other in order to survive, she said. She lauded the two county courts and partnering agencies which were strong supporters of the effort.

Its going to be a process to get everything in place, she said of the Frontier Hub. This is an opportunity to showcase the amazing things were already doing in Grant and Harney County, and to show the entire state of Oregon that small communities can have big impacts.