“The energy and passion of the initial Advisory Council members is remarkable,” said Ivers. “Community members throughout the valley have expressed their enthusiasm, and we welcome their contributions at any time.”

Creating surveys tailored to three different types of community members is the Wood River Early Learning Collaborative’s next task. Surveys will be given to businesses, early-childcare and education providers, and families and community members to enable local data collection. The gathered data will be used to compile the Wood River Early Learning Collaborative Needs Assessment, which is anticipated to be finalized by the end of January 2023.

From there, the localized and community-driven strategic planning phase begins, with a target completion date at the end of May 2023.