Established: January 2004

Vision Statement:

The Willmar Early Childhood Initiative commits to increase school readiness of Willmar children from 50% fully prepared to 65% fully prepared for Kindergarten by Jan. 2009.

Coalition Projects:

• Family Read Aloud at the Fire Station
• Read Along Program on Public Access Television
• Monthly WOW Community Events
• Summer Books and Baseball Event with the Willmar Stingers
• Play Spot at Willmar Public Library

Willmar ECI Publishes One-of-a-Kind Book

Serving half the population of the United States, more than four out of five fire departments use on-call and volunteer firefighters, rather than full-time career employees depicted in most children’s books. Given this reality, the Willmar Early Childhood Initiative, in partnership with SWIF, decided to publish a new firefighter-themed book for their fourth annual Read Aloud at the Fire Station event held in October and attended by more than 500 children, families and community members. This book tells about a community’s on-call firefighters, provides fire safety information for children and families and is written in both English and Spanish on each page. Photos were taken by Kelly Welch, Willmar, and feature local firefighters and their families.