Strategy Planning Meeting

Strategic Planning Meetings were held on January 12^th and January 30^th, 2016. The items reviewed by the participants were: PACE Mission, PACE History, 2015 Accomplishments, PACE Objectives, PACE 30^th Anniversary Celebration in 2017.

PACE keeps aware of the Jamaica Government's focus on their Early Childhood Education Strategies and impact it may have on our programs.
The main areas of impact currently includes:

• School Rationalizations - This involves building model infant schools attached to Primary Schools with incentives of free tuition to move children from the older and less efficient Basic Schools. The Early Childhood Commission has been asked to keep PACE informed if our schools are to be rationalized.
• Teacher Training - The government has targeted having University trained or Level 3 certified Early Childhood teachers in all Basic Schools. PACE has been a partner in this area through our support for HEART trained teachers for 4 years now.
• The Early Childhood Education Act outlines 12 areas for each school to meet Early Childhood Education standards and all 2500+ schools have been evaluated to these standards. PACE has modified our Feedback Form on donations to align with these standards.

Five key objectives (and potential action plans) were supported by the group, along with action plans to implement each of the objectives:

• Enable young children to have positive early learning experience, focusing on ages 3 to 6
• Focus support for the needy schools
• Establish and annual increase in the number of schools supported
• Encourage students to enter pre-school teacher training
• Continue with bursaries and scholarships for ECE student teachers
• Develop a Research Award grant for students to do community based research in ECE
• Encourage parents of pre-school children to improve the learning experiences available to children in the home
• Develop a Speaker Series by ECE professionals
• Develop Research Grants for organizations to address this area
• Encourage community participation and partnership
• Target new community partnerships
• Expand membership to include men and youth
• Leverage technology to promote and stay connected with members, schools, partners, and the community
• Keep up to date on technology especially in social media
• Leverage Constant Contact for email communications
• Identify a graphic designer to help with message focus and format

Our 30^th anniversary in 2017 provides an opportunity to showcase our accomplishments and to promote our strategic plan. Several potential action items were discussed, and it was agreed that a formal Organizing Committee would be established once the 2016-2017 Board has been established. The Committee will be seeking volunteers and participation from the PACE members, so look for opportunities to be involved in this exciting and historic project.