Today’s friendly family resource information is brought to you by the letters S, I, C and F.

A new resource called Sesame Street in Communities is free — available to parents, caregivers, community partners…or everyone in your neighborhood. Let’s learn more.

Sesame Street in Communities is an online portal that is home to hundreds of free, bilingual multi-media tools to help kids and families enrich and expand their knowledge during their earliest years. You can enhance the amazing work you’re already doing with kids and families in your community. This unique partnership with Sesame Street in Communities will give caregivers, providers and leaders in Iowa the messages and resources to improve the social-emotional well-being of children ages 0-8 and to promote early relational health within families.

We all know that the foundation for lifelong health and success begins in early childhood. Supporting children with social-emotional skills — such as managing emotions, showing empathy, building positive relationships, and making good choices – establishes important building blocks for future learning and development. The reality is that the pandemic has caused families to experience prolonged and elevated levels of stress, disrupted routines and isolation. By intentionally giving parents and caregivers the tools to help children cope and thrive through challenges, we can improve children’s ability to become healthy and contributing members of our community.

To begin learning or to sign up, please visit https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/ today. Your free membership will allow you to explore various topics and resources available to help kids and grown-ups with what matters most in young lives — health and wellness, social-emotional skills and school readiness. These resources will help children and families grow smarter, stronger and kinder.

Depending on your role in the lives of kids closest to you, you can customize your experience by choosing a parent/caregiver or provider profile to view resources tailored to you. You will also meet your favorite Sesame Street friends along the way including, Elmo, Grover, Big Bird and more. Resources include videos, printable worksheets, activities and lesson plans.

This initiative is led by the Iowa Alliance for Healthy Kids with investment from the Kellogg Foundation and Mid-Iowa Health Foundation. Iowa ACEs 360, Early Childhood Iowa, Iowa Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Orchard Place, Prevent Child Abuse Iowa, Project LAUNCH, United Way of Central Iowa and UnityPoint Health – Blank Children’s Hospital. It is also proudly supported by the Iowa River Valley Early Childhood Area Board.

This is a great resource that is easy as 1-2-3. We hope you have a fun time learning.

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Carrie Kube is a director for

owa River Valley Early Childhood Area Board.