Representatives from the Iowa Governor’s Office and the Early Childhood Iowa organization will be in Charles City Sept. 4, as part of a series of statewide regional meetings.
    According to the local Empowerment Coordinator Laurie Kristiansen, FMC (Floyd-Mitchell-Chickasaw) Community Empowerment will assist in hosting 55 visitors from nine different Iowa Empowerment areas. Representatives will be on hand from the following Empowerment regions:  Benton, Black Hawk, Fayette/Buchanan/Delaware, Franklin/Butler/Bremer/Grundy, Hancock/CerroGordo/Worth, Howard/Winneshiek/Allamakee/Clayton, Floyd/Mitchell/ Chickasaw, Linn and Winnebago. Thursday’s meeting will be from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Sleep Inn in Charles City.
    The regional meetings are a result of a project grant recently awarded to Iowa by the National Governor’s Association Early Childhood Advisory Council. 
    Area early childhood partners, advocates and Empowerment personnel will spend the day focusing on local system level activities. 
    “The plan is for each region to assess its local system level infrastructure and then begin planning for next steps,” said Kristiansen. “A national level expert in system infrastructure, Kay Johnson, will be here to facilitate the meeting.” 
    Members of the FMC Empowerment team include: Virgil Pickar, Jr., New Hampton; Shannon Paulus, Osage; Kathy Babcock, RN, New Hampton; Diane Day, New Hampton; Sara Stewart, Charles City; Dianne Casto, Mason City; Dianne Halvorson, Decorah; Sara Noehl, New Hampton, and Laurie Kristiansen, Nashua.  
    For more information about the Charles City regional meeting contact the FMC Community Empowerment coordinator at 641-435-4435.