Skip to main content

MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Rochester Parent Network to Host First Interactive Town Meeting


The Rochester Parent Network (RPN), in collaboration with the Child Care Council and the Family Child Care Satellites of Greater Rochester, will host the first of six town meetings on Monday, Feb. 3, 8:00-9:00 p.m., for the 4,000 family childcare providers in Monroe County.

Originating from MCC's RAITN room and cablecast via Time Warner Cable channel 4, the goal of the "town meetings" project is to help create a "community" for childcare providers who care for up to 10,000 children in Monroe County. The RPN is the nation's first seamless, community-wide communication system designed to support parents and caregivers of young children that links television, telecommunications and the Internet.

Funded by the Rochester Area Community Foundation, this pilot project is a response to the needs of caregivers who have identified "isolation" as one of their greatest challenges. "Our hope is that the town meetings will enable family child care providers to gel as a group and develop a collective voice to identify, address and hopefully resolve issues critical to them," said Jim Coffey, executive director of the RPN. "Caregivers will also be able to vote by telephone after the meeting on issues using the RPN's '292-BABY' call center."

The town meeting will be interactive using cable television and a voice messaging system from Avaya, Inc. housed at Monroe Community College, the lead agency in the RPN collaborative. Specially designed communications software, developed by Mutare Software, will enable viewers to call in during the meeting and cast votes after the meeting on specific issues as well as identify topics for upcoming meetings.

Adds Coffey, "When we combine the option to vote on issues following an interactive meeting that caregivers (90% of whom have cable) can attend right from home, the potential to nurture the growth of this 'community,' becomes very real. Of course, the real benefit to strengthening this community is that it will ultimately help the children," he said.

To participate in the town meeting, childcare providers are encouraged to tune into Time Warner Cable channel 4 at 8:00 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3. Future town meetings will be held on the first Monday of the month through July.

The Rochester Parent Network town meetings are made possible by a grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation and the cooperative efforts of Family Child Care Satellites of Greater Rochester, The Child Care Council, Time Warner Cable, Monroe Community College and the Rochester Parent Network collaborative.

The Rochester Parent Network was established in 1998 and is a unique collaboration among the Child Care Council, Early Childhood Education Quality Council, Family Resource Centers of Rochester, Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, Monroe Community College, Monroe County Library System, Regional Early Childhood Direction Center, Time Warner Communications, Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the University of Rochester, WXXI, ViaHealth, Wegmans, Halcyon Hill Foundation, Marie C. & Joseph C. Wilson Foundation and Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation.

The goal of the Rochester Parent Network is to empower parents, or their designated caregivers, to develop their child's full human potential by providing new options to access education, training and support. Its guiding philosophy is that the most effective way to reach children is through those who care for them and that care in the first 1,400 days of growth, from conception to age three, is critical.

Rosanna Condello
College and Community Relations
02/03/2003