Focus Area: Early Childhood
Grant Amount: $12,000
Based in Fergus Falls, West Central Initiative has served 9 counties (Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Otter Tail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse and Wilkin) as well as White Earth Nation to shape a stronger region. As a regional community foundation and economic development district, WCI invests in people, communities, and systems that make west central Minnesota vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable.
Grant supports training events and implementation of the Conscious Discipline model. Conscious Discipline is a research-based social-emotional learning framework built on caregivers learning to recognize and regulate their own emotional state first, creating the conditions for children to build executive functioning, empathy, and healthy relationships. Over three years, WCI has embedded this framework across its nine-county rural region through training events, a 12-member Action Team, and a statewide network of 50 Endorsed Facilitators authorized to train within their own organizations.