When our children succeed, we all succeed!
About ECNCI
ECNCI or Early Childhood of North Central Iowa is made up of representatives from Emmet, Kossuth, Palo Alto, and Winnebago counties that have an interest in providing quality care and education for children ages 0-5.
It is our philosophy that in order to make a difference in the lives of young children, the community must work together with the same goal to achieve the same outcomes. It is only by collaborative planning with parents, education, business, faith, health, human services and other community organizations that we will be able to assess and implement services to help young children achieve success in life.
(ECNCI was formerly the "Empowerment" areas of Emmet County, PAK , and Winnebago County)
Our History
Empowerment (Early Childhood Iowa) began in 1998 with the intention of giving local control to areas to help meet the needs of families with children ages 0-5.
Groups of citizens met to form local boards in Emmet, Winnebago and Palo Alto and Kossuth counties. The job of these boards was to gather input from the community, to assess needs and form plans to meet the needs of young children and their families.
In an attempt to approve efficiency, the state moved to combine areas so that there would no longer be any stand alone counties (with the exception of some larger counties). During this time the 3 separate boards met to discuss joining and to discuss the best situation for their particular counties.
In January 2011, these boards joined to form the new Early Childhood North Central Iowa board. They received funding in July 2011.