JOB & VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Mission:
To provide a bright beginning for all Colorado children by helping families support their children's physical, emotional, and intellectual development during the critical first three years of life

Program Description:
Colorado Bright Beginnings (CBB) hopes to influence all Colorado children to reach their full potential to succeed in school and throughout life by educating parents with high quality, developmentally appropriate materials and tools through personal interaction.

Bright Beginnings' programs are offered at no cost to any interested family with a child prenatal to age three in Colorado without regard to income, age, or any other eligibility criteria. Statewide programs are provided by 13 regional affiliates actively collaborating in local communities throughout Colorado. Current programs include:

• Warm Welcome visits to parents of newborns in their home or community settings. These visits offer broad-based support to parents and caretakers, providing information on health, safety, childcare, community resources, health insurance, early brain development, and highlight the importance of reading to children from birth. The visit offers a "Warm Welcome" to newborns in the state of Colorado and promotes positive parent-child interactions. Visits can be conducted with parents of children prenatal to age three and materials include specifics for parents on activities and games they can play with their child to stimulate healthy growth and development.

• Moving On visits to parents of children ages 12 - 24 months offering parents specific information, assessments, and tools to promote language development during the second year of life. Materials focus on the importance of talking with, encouraging, and playing with your child and include information on vocabulary development and positive interactions. The program was designed to help parents provide an enriched, supportive environment that promotes early literacy and teaches caregivers how they can become an encouraging partner in the "language dance."

• Provide visits to individual families in their homes or at a location of their choice.

• Provide visits to groups of families or talk with families in the group who later receive an individual visit
  • Library infant/toddler storytimes
  • Playgroups
  • Breastfeeding clinics at hospital
  • WIC missed appointment clinics
  • Birth preparation classes
  • Community events and fairs
  • Child care centers
  • Schools and preschools
  • Corporations (especially those with which you are personally affiliated)
  • Religious institutions (especially those with which you are personally affiliated)

• Solicitations
  • Companies to donate products for bags
  • Items for Auctions
  • Food for Trainings, Events, Etc.
  • Door prizes for volunteer recognition dinner

• Special Events
  • Serve on committee
  • Help with logistics at event
  • Speaker at event

• Foundations
  • Write letters of support
  • Participate in site visits

• Make and/or deliver partner/donor/funder appreciation baskets, etc.

• General Community Outreach
  • Speak at community events and forums
  • Attend community fairs
  • Table at community locations (stores, etc.)
  • Distribute referral brochures and volunteer recruitment flyers

• Targeted Community Outreach
  • Speak at workplaces (especially those with which you are personally affiliated)
  • Speak at religious institutions (especially those with which you are personally affiliated)
  • Speak at service clubs (especially those with which you are personally affiliated)
  • Speak at other organizations (especially those with which you are personally affiliated)
  • Attend train the trainer sessions to describe experience as volunteer

• Marketing/PR
  • Outreach to media
  • Be interviewed by media
  • Write an op ed piece
  • Write articles for newsletters
  • Document unique or moving stories of families they visit
  • Participate in videos or share photos of visits

• Office
  • Data entry
  • Graphic design (newsletters, etc.)
  • General office work

• Bags and Materials
  • Bag assembly (either in small group or all at once)
  • Decorate Warm Welcome/Moving On bags or folders
  • Knitting gifts, blankets, etc. for bags (especially for home visits)
  • Put together training binders for partners

• Volunteer Management
  • Attend volunteer training sessions to describe experience as volunteer
  • Volunteers with babies come to trainings to do "practice" visits with people
  • Organize volunteer appreciation events

• Baby care
  • Lactation consultant
  • Infant massage

• Advisory Boards
  • Program
  • Community Outreach
  • Marketing
  • Fundraising

• Arts
  • Artwork (birthday cards, holiday cards)
  • Art or music to use in fundraisers

• Train other volunteers in their area of expertise