About Story County Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa Area

What is Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa?

Iowa Community Empowerment began in 1998 as a statewide initiative to build partnership between communities and state government with an emphasis to improve the wellbeing and quality of life for children ages 0 to 5 years and their families. There were initially 58 community empowerment areas across Iowa representing 99 counties.  Story County received designation as a community empowerment area in 1999.  State legislation in 2010 modified the community empowerment initiative to the current Early Childhood Iowa initiative.  Local community empowerment areas are now referred to as local Early Childhood Iowa (or ECI) Areas.     

Story County Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa partners with various community agencies and organizations to conduct community assessment and planning efforts to address the needs of children and families throughout Story County.  The Empowerment/ECI Area and Story County Decategorization projects share staff coordination services, which further enhances planning efforts to meet identified needs within Story County.

Targeted results and priorities for Story County Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa:

Early Childhood Iowa identifies five result areas that all community empowerment areas strive to achieve. These result areas are: 1) Healthy Children, 2) Children Ready to Succeed in School, 3) Safe and Supportive Communities, 4) Secure and Nurturing Families, and 5) Secure and Nurturing Child Care Environments. 

Story County Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa Area identifies the following priorities:

• Provide coordinated prenatal and postnatal services.
• Provide educational training and support for parents and early childhood providers.
• Provide affordable, quality, accessible child and infant care
• Provide affordable, quality, accessible early childhood experiences

Comprehensive Services and Supports

Local ECI areas receive annual funding allocations from the State. Funds include:

• School Ready Funds are used to provide comprehensive services for children birth through five years of age. Funds are used to address preschool access for low-income families, family support and education (including home visitation services), and other early care, health, and education issues.
• Early Childhood Funds are used to enhance the quality and capacity of child care. Funds are used to support recruitment of providers, child care for mildly ill children, second or third shift and infant care, quality improvements for center and home based providers, and support for registration and licensure.

Merger of Boone and Story Early Childhood Iowa Areas

The Boone and Story Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa Area boards have been working toward merging into a single Early Childhood Iowa Area.  The merged ECI Area will be known as BooSt Together for Children.  The goal is for the merger to be complete by July 1, 2012. 

Story County Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa Office

The Story County Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa office is located in the Story County Human Services Building at 126 South Kellogg Avenue, Suite 101, in Ames, Iowa. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding state holidays. Feel free to contact us with questions. 

Ann Lundvall, Coordinator

Phone: 515-268-2276

E-mail: alundva@dhs.state.ia.us

Tracy Chaska, Administrative Assistant

Phone: 515-956-2591

E-mail:  tchaska@dhs.state.ia.us