Lane County families will soon have access to an online guide to help them find preschools, parenting classes, diapers and other services.
The resource will launch on Nov. 4.
The guide is from the Early Childhood Hub of Lane County, and will allow parents to search for programs, filtering their options based on where they live and the age of their child.
They can also sort and compare publicly-funded preschool and childcare programs based on other factors, such as if the program has Spanish speakers on staff.
Kris Coomes, the Director of Education for the Early Childhood Hub, said the resource is inspired by Pollywog, a similar resource guide currently available for Linn, Benton, and Lincoln County residents.
Coomes said with the Hub’s resource guide, parents will be able to get assistance from resource navigators, who can help families who may not know what they’re eligible for or what would be a good fit.
She said navigators can also directly help families sign up for services, like home visits, birth or postpartum support, or a parenting class.
"If the family calls in, we have a close loop referral system on the back end,” Coomes said. “We can make sure that if we're referring a family to another organization, that that organization actually got a hold of that family and made contact."
Coomes says the guide will also be updated in real time to ensure all programs listed are accurate.
She said while doing the research to build the guide, she found that many families said they tried to get connected to resources only to be told the service is no longer available, or they would have to join a waitlist. When the service returned, or added capacity, those families often wouldn’t be told.
"Sometimes families have a hard time finding services just because they just don't know that they are now available,” she said. “Or, they are readily available, they don't have access to that information."
Coomes said the initial work to create the guide was funded by PacificSource when it was a Medicaid provider in Lane County, and is now supported by Trillium Community Health Plan.
The Early Learning Hub is also supported by United Way of Lane County and is a part of a network of regional organizations that coordinate public early childhood programs.
