Janet Munt Family Room

Family Play is our most attended program. It is a drop in playgroup that serves hundreds of participants a year, children ages birth to five, parents and their caregivers. During the fall and winter months, we are inside at our 20 Allen St. site. We utilize several rooms and provide developmentally appropriate activities and play structures for children to explore their large and small gross motor development. We focus on community wellness, social connections, one stop shop programming, workshops, sewing, English classes, Legal Aid, book groups, music, movement and more. This helps families build resilience and relationships and get tools to care for their families. We partner with several organizations to expand programs and help parents learn of other resources in the community. We always provide meals during program and there is often food to take, as many of our families experience food insecurity. Staff are there to create a welcoming environment, support parents and caregivers and best of all, engage with the babies and children. During the warmer months, we go to the Ethan Allen Homestead where we have our garden program. Families can sign up for their own plots of land to have their own gardens, grow their own food, and attend workshops on improving their gardens or making different types of food. We also support the garden with volunteers, play with the children and provide meals. Staff take families on nature walks, explore the museum and play games with families. This program runs 2 times a week, but families can tend to their gardens all week. We provide transportation to families who can not get to the gardens by their own means and provide concrete supports such as food, diapers, wipes and other needs the families may ask help with.

Healthy Families from the Start- this is a perinatal program focused on supporting families prenatally and then at least 3 months postpartum. The main objective of this program is to prevent and reduce the affects of postpartum mood and anxiety disorders for birthing mothers and support the family with basic needs, social emotional support, language interpretation, birth prep classes and what to expect at the hospital when giving birth. This program has really covered important social service gaps for families who can't afford alternative supports. Staff home visit each family weekly, addressing each families' needs and connecting them to vital resources. One of the important values we hold in this program is that all families experience child birth with dignity and respect. After the initial 3 months postpartum of support, home visiting will be minimized but meanwhile, the families have been integrated into other aspects of the Family Room, such as Baby Massage, Moms groups/ Dads group and playgroups to make sure each family can build their network of support and learn from other parents.