The College of Family and Consumer Sciences is proposing an initiative to help educate parents and communities about early childhood development.

The Healthy Life Start Initiative, a proposed $1 million program, is designed to benefit children from birth to age five.

“The initiative will directly impact all parents with kids zero to five,” said Carol Meeks, dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The initiative was approved by the university and then by the Iowa Board of Regents in September. The next step for the college is to petition Gov. Tom Vilsack to include it in his recommendations in December or January. If the governor recommends the initiative, it will go to the education appropriations committee for approval.

“Hopefully there are lots of volunteers, alumni and students working to support it. We want to make sure the governor lists it in his proposal,” said JaneAnn Stout, associate dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “We’re encouraging citizens to write to the governor asking him to include it in the proposal.”

The $1 million initiative is divided into five components. The majority of the money would go to improve infant and toddler care through the nationally accredited Child Development Laboratory School in the Palmer Building.

“We would add to the curriculum to include infant and toddler programs. Undergraduates could then observe infant and toddlers, and we could bring people in and train them and also do some research,” Meeks said.

Most of the $397,000 allotted to the laboratory school would go to staffing since the building has enough facilities to house all of the classes, Stout said.

Another $353,000 would focus on researching language and literacy skills, brain development, health problems and outreach to support children through age five.

The college also is requesting funding for two faculty members and staff support to work with the Family Policy Center on empowerment, and one staff member to assist communities with evaluation and implementation of parent education programming for zero to 5-year-olds.

The college is proposing to expand its federally funded food and nutrition education program, which assists 4,000 low-income families each year. The cost of extending it would be $150,000.

“In our food nutrition program, we can’t talk about childcare with these families,” Meeks said. “However, if approved we’d be able to work with low income family on childcare issues.”

The last $50,000 could to go creating a “Parenting the First Year” newsletter, which originated at the University of Wisconsin.

“We’re trying to help people understand the development stages of children. Once they understand the stages, people — adults — become less frustrated with children,” said Stout, associate professor of family and consumer sciences.

The proposal is to begin with a newsletter written in Spanish to reach Hispanic families across the state. The newsletter would be given to any family with a newborn, Meeks said.

When the college petitioned for $500,000 last year, it was denied. Stout said it is crucial that the initiative is passed this year because the university will probably not support it next year.

“It’s really important that we get the funding this year. I don’t know if we’d get support next year, but the need is definitely there,” Stout said.

For more information visit the college’s Web site at www.fcs.iastate.edu.