SATURDAY: Governor Carney, First Lady to Host Dover Days Open House

DOVER, Del. – The Governor will participate in the 85th Annual Dover Days Parade on Saturday, May 5, and will host an open house at Woodburn, the Governor’s residence, shortly following the parade. Dover Days is a festival promoting Delaware’s heritage and culture.

WHAT: The Governor will participate in the 85th Annual Dover Days Parade on Saturday, May 5, starting at 9:30 a.m. Following the parade, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Governor and First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney will host an open house at Woodburn, the Governor’s residence. The Governor will throw out the first pitch at the vintage baseball game located in the field behind Woodburn at 12:30 p.m.

WHO: Governor John Carney
First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney

WHEN: Parade begins at 9:30 a.m.
Open House will run 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Governor will throw first pitch at 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: Woodburn
151 Kings Hwy SW, Dover, DE 19901

 

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Celebrate National Library Week April 8-14

(Dover, DE) – This week, Delaware joins libraries nationwide in celebrating the many ways libraries enrich their communities through the transformative services and expertise they offer.

April 8-14, 2018 is National Library Week, the annual celebration of the life-changing work of libraries, librarians, and library workers. People of all ages can collaborate, try out new technologies, and develop their skills and passions at Delaware libraries throughout the state.

“We are privileged to partner with our libraries to transform lives through the First Chance Delaware initiative,” said Delaware’s First Lady, Tracey Quillen Carney. “Our goal is to ensure that all of Delaware’s children have a ‘first chance’ to succeed. Certainly, promoting early literacy and school readiness is a critical part of that work; and in addition, libraries are playing an increasingly important role as centers of community life. So the library habit is about literacy, and also about parent-child engagement and access to other services that support strong and healthy families. To support our families and a first chance for all our children, I encourage every Delawarean to get and use a Delaware library card.”

“Delaware has made a great investment in upgrading the services offered to residents in our 33 public libraries across the state,” said Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock. “What’s great about Delaware librarians is their enthusiasm and willingness to adapt to the changing needs of the community,”

Through partnerships, libraries can extend the reach and effectiveness of partner capabilities and resources and foster collaboration. “Libraries level the playing field for people of any age who seek information and access to technologies to improve their quality of life.” said Deputy Secretary of State Courtney Stewart.

Although studies show that in the public’s mind the library brand is “books,” this week showcases libraries’ role to support all topics as a place to “get things done.” As technology evolves, libraries continuously keep pace to ensure individuals and communities excel. Resources like eBooks and technology classes, materials for English-language learners, and programs for job seekers are just a few ways libraries recently — and continuously — transform and lead in their communities.

“Libraries are making experiences come alive, off the page, for our communities,” said Dr. Annie Norman, State Librarian. “Libraries are a linchpin for discovery in all subject areas, and we are working with partners and experts to make available a greater array of experiences for our communities. So Delawareans have the opportunity they might not have otherwise to discover a passion, to develop an expertise, and to make connections to support invention and innovation.”

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

Find more information about your local libraries at https://delawarelibraries.org.

About the Delaware Library Association

The Delaware Library Association is a chapter of the American Library Association, and its mission is to promote the profession of librarianship, to advocate for library services, and to provide information and services for Delawareans. DLA is the only statewide association that represents all types of libraries including academic, public, school, and special libraries.

About the Delaware Division of Libraries

The Delaware Division of Libraries, a state agency dedicated to unleashing the potential in all Delawareans in partnership with Delaware Libraries, offers free access to the online catalog (delawarelibraries.org); Wi-Fi; computers/internet; eBooks, programs/workshops, community partnerships, and more.

#FirstChanceDE, #GetaLibraryCardDE

 


First Chance Delaware

First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney’s remarks as prepared for delivery at the announcement of First Chance Delaware — an initiative led by the First Lady to recognize and facilitate effective partnerships, to share research and best practices, and to promote opportunities to collaborate in support of Delaware’s children.

But then Paul DiLorenzo from Casey asked us to think bigger, more in terms of promotion than response; and of course, that instantly made sense.When Jackie Mette first suggested that we apply to Casey Family Programs for a First Spouse Initiative Grant, I knew I wanted it to be about giving kids a chance to succeed, a chance to recognize and work toward their potential. So we started to think about specific programs that would do that in targeted ways – a kind of traditional approach for a first spouse; identify a need, a way to respond, and focus on it for as long as you’re here.

If our goal is, in a foundational way, to give Delaware’s children a chance to succeed, we can’t do that with one program; and we can’t do it by responding just to how kids suffer when they crash into obstacles; we have to deal with the obstacles themselves.

That’s the reality John recognized when, in his one of his first initiatives as Governor, he re-established the Family Services Cabinet Council. When families face foundational challenges, like access to stable housing and nutritious food, each adversity deepens all of the others, in a geometric – and generational – erosion of opportunity. So to be effective – and certainly, to be efficient – the efforts to alleviate those challenges must also be inter-connected and mutually reinforcing.

Our First Chance Initiative, with a founding grant from Casey Family Programs, seeks to encourage a coordinated, intentional, and evolving culture of commitment to Delaware’s children – to make the First State a place where every child has a First Chance to succeed.

The why of the First Chance Initiative is pretty obvious:

  • It’s our shared interest in public health, educational excellence and workforce development; in attracting businesses and talented employees, based on the skills of Delawareans and on the quality of life in our state;
  • it’s our interest in saving on emergency medical costs and other crisis interventions;
  • it’s our interest in parent-employee productivity and retention, and in supporting community safety and sustainability, by building on the fundamental strength of families.
  • And, even more obviously, it’s our moral obligation – to give kids a chance, a First Chance, to succeed.

As for the how of the First Chance Initiative:

First, we want to recognize cross-sector collaborations that are working, to promote awareness of what’s out there – both for families who might benefit and for prospective partners, who share an interest and want to get involved.

Second, we want to take that intentional, coordinated approach to expanding successful programs, especially where parents, children, and teens are engaged in partnerships and settings that they trust – partnerships like our evidence-based home visiting programs for newborns and moms; settings like our Boys & Girls Clubs, community centers, Y’s, libraries, faith-based settings, and public schools where adults invest in building strong relationships with students. While we have kids and families in these trusted programs and settings, how can we better coordinate a mutually reinforcing First Chance web of support and opportunity?

In our year of groundwork for the First Chance Initiative, we’ve focused on partnerships in three areas –
1. Addressing childhood hunger,
2. Promoting early literacy, and
3. Expanding trauma-informed care.

Good things are happening, and again, we want to build on those successes.

Good things like the program to help struggling readers, a program I had a chance to see in action at Manor Elementary School. The program is a partnership among the Reading Assist Institute and its private and public supporters, the Colonial School District, and AmeriCorps. We’re going to celebrate three years of that partnership at an end-of-year bash on April 26th, with food provided by the culinary arts students at William Penn.

Good things are happening.

Good things like Compassionate Connections, a partnership I’ve been privileged to join.

The work started when Compassionate Schools, a national program, joined with Delaware’s Department of Education – with early involvement from the University of Delaware, and, once again, lead funding from Casey Family Programs. The Compassionate Schools work expanded, with deepening commitment from those early partners, and inspired by a grassroots push from members of the Delaware State Education Association. DSEA earned a National Education Association grant to form Compassionate Connections and to launch a three-year pilot program in five schools.

Compassionate Connections, again, involves all of the original Compassionate Schools partners, including Casey – and also:

  • Children and Families First,
  •  the Office of the Child Advocate,
  • the Parents Advisory Council for Education,
  • the Red Clay and Christina School Districts,
  • the Wilmington Advisory Council,
  • the Family Services Cabinet Council’s ACEs Subcommittee,
  • the ACLU,
  • the Rodel Foundation,
  • and the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families – aka, Secretary Manning’s “Kids Department.”

In addition to that collaboration, many schools apply the new Opportunity Grants toward trauma-informed work. A shoutout, too, to Wilmington University, which now offers a certificate in Trauma Informed Approaches, as a complement to degrees in six different majors.

This isn’t touchy-feely stuff; as we now know, this is brain science and biology – with implications for every family, school, work place, and neighborhood.

Good things are happening, like the collaboration I am proud to introduce as our inaugural First Chance Program – our state task force on childhood hunger. I want to thank Charlotte McGarry, from the Food Bank of Delaware; Ray Fitzgerald, Director of Social Services at DHSS; and Aimee Beam, from the Department of Education – as well as the task force’s partners, which include:

  • the Harry K Foundation,
  • Secretary Bunting, superintendents, principals, and members of the Delaware School Nutrition Association,
  • the Department of Agriculture and Delaware farmers,
  • all of our Summer Food Service and after-school partners,
  • and the regional office of the USDA.

If we’re going to give kids a First Chance to succeed, what better place to start, than fighting childhood hunger.

It doesn’t take a lot of data to figure it out – have you ever been at your best when you were hungry? I’ve had the misfortune, on occasion, to be with our Governor when he’s hungry – it’s not something you want to see.

Our task force on childhood hunger has set specific goals to:

  • increase participation in school breakfast,
  • improve our effectiveness in serving summer meals,
  • expand opportunities for after-school meals and snacks,
  • and, with the help of the Harry K Foundation, to make sure that every school with a basic needs closet, also has a food pantry.

The goals of the task force are aggregate; not one for the Food Bank, one for DHSS, and one for DOE, not one for philanthropy and one for reimbursable programs.

We have shared goals – because we have shared goals, and a common interest in achieving them – again, whether you look at it from an economic, quality of life, or moral point of view.

In building a statewide culture of commitment to children – as we review budgets, policies, and programs – let’s ask what each of us can do, what each of our agencies, businesses, and funding sources can do, to break down silos in support of shared goals, to engage in creative, common-sense collaborations, to give kids a First Chance to succeed.

I am privileged to have the opportunity to invest the convening power and platform of the First Lady’s role toward the First Chance Initiative.


Delawareans can learn more about First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney’s “First Chance Delaware” initiative, and sign up to help, at de.gov/firstchance.


Governor Carney, First Lady, Casey Family Programs Announce “First Chance Delaware”

New initiative promotes culture of commitment to Delaware children through cross-sector partnerships

WILMINGTON, Del. – Joined by members of his Cabinet, representatives from Casey Family Programs and child advocates, Governor John Carney joined First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney on Thursday to announce First Chance Delaware – an initiative led by the First Lady to recognize and facilitate effective partnerships, to share research and best practices, and to promote opportunities to collaborate in support of Delaware’s children.

Casey Family Programs provided the founding grant for First Chance Delaware, and will continue to provide technical and operational support through Casey’s First Spouse Initiative program.

Delawareans can learn more about First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney’s “First Chance Delaware” initiative, and sign up to help, at de.gov/firstchance.

“First Chance is not a new program. It is a framework, in coordination with the Family Services Cabinet Council, to promote a statewide culture of commitment to Delaware’s children,” said First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney. “In advancing that culture, we recognize our shared interest, as well as our shared moral obligation, to give all children an opportunity to realize their potential – in learning, work, and citizenship. We also recognize that, working in isolation, not even the most well intentioned – or even the most well-funded – organizations or individuals can address the obstacles to success that too many of our children confront in the 21st Century. The challenges are intertwined; each deepens the others, in a geometric – and often generational – erosion of opportunity. So to be effective, the efforts to alleviate those challenges must be coordinated and mutually reinforcing. Everyone concerned with Delaware’s future needs to be involved.”

First Chance Delaware will focus its work on:

  • Ending childhood hunger and expanding access to nutritious food for low-income children;
  • Promoting learning readiness through literacy, health and parent-child engagement programs; and
  • Advancing the recognition of – and effective responses to – adverse childhood experiences.

“First Chance Delaware encourages partners from across government, the nonprofit sector, and private business to work together on behalf of Delaware’s children,” said Governor Carney. “This initiative is already helping to confront childhood hunger across our state, and will bring partners together to take on challenges surrounding trauma, learning readiness, and childhood literacy. Thank you to Tracey for her leadership, and we look forward to bringing more voices and resources to the table with the goal of finding solutions to critical issues facing Delaware’s children.”

The statewide Task Force to End Childhood Hunger is the first model partnership to be recognized as a First Chance Delaware program.

“Making sure our children and families have the tools they need to thrive and be successful is vital,” said Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long. “The partnerships created by First Chance Delaware will help us identify gaps so that we can assist and provide for our children in so many areas. I look forward to working with Governor Carney and First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney, as well as the Family Services Cabinet Council, to help make our children and families stronger and healthier.”

“As a member of the Governor’s Family Services Cabinet Council, I have seen firsthand the Governor’s commitment to improving the lives of Delaware’s children and families; however, state government alone cannot address all of the needs of Delawareans, which is why we are all very grateful to First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney for creating First Chance Delaware,” said Josette Manning, Secretary of Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families. “First Chance Delaware will break down the barriers between state agencies and all other individuals and organizations to encourage collaboration and creative solutions to some of the most complex issues facing our children and families.”

Related News
Summer Food Service Program Provides Nutritious Meals for Needy Children
First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney Attends Learning Lab on State Strategies to Reduce Childhood Hunger

Related Background Information
The statewide Task Force to End Childhood Hunger, with a central team convened by the First Lady, includes representatives from the Food Bank of Delaware, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Social Services. This task force’s specific goals include increasing participation and building partnerships in support of the Summer Food Service Program and alternative model school breakfasts. The task force also seeks to promote awareness of all programs, public and private, available to Delawareans experiencing food insecurity. Other task force partners include the Harry K Foundation; superintendents, principals, and members of the Delaware School Nutrition Association; the Department of Agriculture and Delaware farmers; Summer Food Service Program sponsors and partners; and the regional office of the USDA.


MEDIA ADVISORY: Governor Carney, First Lady to Host Holiday Open House at Woodburn

Holiday Open House at Woodburn on Satuday, December 2.

DOVER, Del. – On Saturday, December 2, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Governor John Carney and First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney will host a holiday open house at Woodburn, the Governor’s Residence. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the Governor and First Lady, tour Woodburn and Hall House, view holiday decorations, and enjoy holiday treats. The event is free and open to the public.

WHAT:        Holiday open house and tours at Woodburn.

WHO:          Governor John Carney

First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney

WHEN:       Saturday, December 2, 2017

10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. *Governor Carney will arrive around 12:00 p.m.

WHERE:    Woodburn

151 Kings Highway Southwest

Dover, DE 19901

 

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The Woodburn Holiday Open House is one of several events taking place in Dover on Saturday, December 2:

Saturday, December 2, 2017
“Delaware’s State Constitution.”
9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Guided tours explore the Delaware State Constitution of 1792 which changed the Delaware State to the State of Delaware. First Saturday in the First State program. The Old State House, 25 The Green, Dover.

Saturday, December 2, 2017
“Johnson Victrola Museum’s 50th Anniversary Celebration: A Country Tale”
Program at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., Museum open 9 a.m.– 4:30 p.m.
Program, “Play That Old-Time Country Music,” explores Victor Records’ early recordings of country music, accompanied by 78-rpm records played on authentic Victor Talking Machines. Part of a series celebrating the museum’s creation in 1967. First Saturday in the First State program. Programs held in the museum’s 2nd floor gallery (entry via staircase; no elevator). Free admission but, due to space restrictions, reservations are required for the programs by calling 302-739-3262. Johnson Victrola Museum, 375 S. New St., Dover.

Saturday, December 2, 2017
“Handmade for the Holidays”
Program 11 a.m.–3 p.m., Museum open 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Seasonal program in which visitors can design a tile for the holidays. John Dickinson Plantation, 340 Kitts Hummock Road, Dover.

Saturday, December 2, 2017
“Home for the Holidays Market Place & Parade”
3 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., Parade starts at 6:30 p.m.
Loockerman Way Plaza, Dover.
Click here for more information from the Downtown Dover Partnership.