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Some of the children who first arrive at the Wild Plum Center For Young Children & Families cannot distinguish between colors or use scissors. They also cannot speak English and have trouble adjusting to a classroom setting, Wild Plum Executive Director Amy Ogilvie said.
“A lot of the kids who come in are on the lower side of development,” Ogilvie said. “They are below expectations in so many areas.”
“By the time they leave, 90% are above expectations and they are ready to step into any classroom in the St. Vrain Valley School District,” she said. “They are ready to learn.”
Wild Plum_ which began as the St. Vrain Valley Council in 1965 — serves 253 children ages 0-5, from low income families in Longmont. A four-member family making $26,000 or less annually is considered low-income under federal guidelines, Ogilvie said.
Wild Plum is the designated Early Head and Head Start provider for Longmont and provides a wide variety of services inside and outside the classroom including individual teaching help at home, she said. During the pandemic, Wild Plum closed its doors but still provided online instruction.
“The teachers would play games with the kids for a few minutes a day, which gave their parents a quick break,” Ogilvie said. Wild Plum also became a food distributor to needy families who found few or no food supplies at local grocery stores.
Wild Plum serves at least 40,000 meals to children and at least 90% of children receive health screenings, according to its description of services it gave to the city.
“We try to do what we can for our families,” she said. “A lot of times they turn to us when they feel they have no place else to turn.”
Wild Plum received $90,000 from $1,184,748 in 2022 funding last week after a recommendation from Longmont’s Housing and Human Services Advisory Board, or HHSAB. The board makes annual recommendations to the city council, which unanimously approved the funding package.
The 2022 funding was aimed at a wide range of safety net services that help “individuals and families stabilize and thrive,” according to a staff report to the city council.
The HHSAB assigned points to each applicant for the funding based on:
- Proposed programs meeting priority needs and/or serving vulnerable population,
- The agency’s ability to demonstrate how well its programs address the community needs and demonstrate community impact impact,
- The agency’s sound financial, management and operational practices.
This year, the HHSAB added an equity component to its grading program. “Specially, the HHSAB asked what the proposed program does to address historic inequities and how the agency tracks progress on addressing those inequities,” the staff report states.
The HHSAB recommended that 36 agencies get city of Longmont funding, in 2022, five more than 2021. The money will support 43 programs, an increase of six programs from 2021, the staff report states.
Ogilvie said she hopes to use the $90,000 for staff salaries. “It’s not exciting, but our staff needs the boost,” she said, adding most work for $14-to-$15 per hour.
“We work hard and I think we’ve impacted our kids and our community in a high quality way,” Ogilvie said. “I think we have made a difference.”
