By Kelly Youngblood
The United Way of Champaign County is offering families a new way to engage and receive information on child development as well as local events and resources.
Bright by Text is now available to parents, grandparents, and caregivers of children prenatal to age 8 in Champaign County. Through the free program, families receive text messages that include research-based information on child development and learning that is specific to the age of their child.
The texts also include information about community resources and events in Champaign County. Families simply text CCKIDS 274448 to receive text messages. The messages can be in English or Spanish.
Beverley Baker, Chief Impact Officer of the United Way of Champaign County, said the opportunity to try out the national platform came during the pandemic. The response turned out to be positive.
“Our community partners and their clients and families really like it so we made a financial investment to bring that to Champaign County,” Baker said.
The decision is part of the United Way’s overall goal to help support early childhood development and kindergarten readiness in Champaign County.
“We want to make some strategic investments in the community to help support and strengthen children to be ready for kindergarten,” Baker said. “Bright by Text is one of those many pieces that we’re doing and investing in to help parents help our kids be kindergarten ready in Champaign County.”
Families that sign up will receive a few text messages a week geared toward their child’s age. Baker said the texts are all developmentally appropriate, well-vetted and come from quality resources such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and PBS.
Baker says the program is user-friendly and not overwhelming. Each text includes a link if users would like to read more.
Some texts can also include localized messaging about events in the area such as school registrations or library story times.
“This is an opportunity for information to come to you that’s intuitive. It may even be things that you’re not even thinking about yet and you can engage in it as much or as little as you want,” Baker said. “It’s really geared to the children in your life and their developmental ages and stage. It doesn’t get much easier than appearing right here (on our phones) for us.”