Making Collective Impact: Upper Manhattan Early Childhood Connect (UMECC) Takes Off

Upper Manhattan Childhood Connect (UMECC) has had an exciting summer and early fall!  Thanks to the incredible collaboration with Literacy in Community's (LINC) FACE team, frequent community presence, our CBO partners, and clinical partners at NYP, we have seen considerable growth in our engagement with families over the past few months. Compared to FY25, on average, our Ambassadors are supporting three times the number of families each month this fiscal year.

We held our first UMECC/CHALK Jr pop-up event at Alianza Dominicana on September 12th-an initiative that supports the overlap of food insecurity and early childhood developmental needs through educational activities and key incentives. Families who attended the September event enjoyed a read-aloud, healthy snack demonstration, and "eat the rainbow" lesson, and went home with books, developmentally stimulating toys, and grocery boxes. 

One of our headline updates is the hiring of our second Early Childhood Ambassador, Juliana Figueroa.  Juliana officially started with LINC on September 30 and is teaming up with Veronica Cuello, our current expert Early Childhood Ambassador, to aid families through our call center services.  They will continue to serve as an invaluable resource for demystifying, clarifying, and supporting:

• Early Intervention processes

• CPSE processes

• 3K and preK enrollment

• How to connect to various literacy and development resources

  
  

Please remember we are available for caregivers of children 0-5 (and expecting caregivers), Harlem through Inwood, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-3:00pm at 347-503-7220. Don't hesitate to connect with us!

UMECC is also very much a collective impact model; we are leaning further into our connections to community partners like Nido de Esperanza, the Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership, local library branches, among others.  We are connecting with new partners, like the Family Enrichment SOUL Center, and welcome new ties to other organizations who share our joint mission of uplifting early childhood development and early literacy, and minimizing equity gaps.

As we head into the conclusion of fall, we anticipate further growth, excellent community ties, and shared partnership to move our neighborhoods forward. Follow all our adventures at umecc.org (our website is undergoing a dramatic makeover and will be live at the same URL soon!)

For more information, please contact UMECC's Program Director, Sejal Kothari at skothari@lincnyc.org.

From left to right: UMECC's Early Childhood Ambassador Juliana Figueroa, Program Director, Sejal Kothari, and Early Childhood Ambassador Veronica Cuello