Madeleine, Jason, Sara, Isabel	Kleckner Impact Statement Our family recently considered the opportunity to relocate to another state. We chose not to and one of the primary reasons we stayed was that we knew that no other state provided such a valuable resource to parents and young children.
Ham Peterson	Ham Peterson Impact Statement In my previous life (prior to children) I was a college student, CPA, and consultant. None of those positions were as challenging or as rewarding as being a parent; yet for those other positions I had significant schooling, training, advising and mentoring. When I became a parent, I didn't know where to go for help, until I started attending Early Childhood Family Education classes through the Minneapolis school district.
Katie, John, Paula & Nikki	Ario Impact Statement I was a research and development chemist at 3M for ten years. I hold five patents and my products have sold millions for 3M. I thought I was prepared for being a mother. I did research afterall!! I read 8 parenting books on just about every subject. Nothing could have prepared me for the feelings of ineptness I encountered while on maternity leave. ECFE saved me.
Eli Ramirez-Croman	Ramirez Impact Statement ECFE has enlightened my parenthood journey with kind, compassionate and highly informative educators. They are directly responsible for alerting me to early childhood screening. A process that placed my son in preschool speech at age 2! He's 3 now, and advancing at an amazing rate.
Gus Diedrich	Diedrich Impact Statement As a former nanny I thought I was prepared for parenthood. Little did I know how different being a parent is and how challenging it can be. Without the support of parent educators in ECFE classes I'm not sure how my husband, who also attended classes with me, and I could have kept our sanity.
Bethany, Jillian, Jesse, Christopher and Jayden	Skorczewski Impact Statement In the fall of 2003, I found out that there was an ECFE group for families of children with special needs. The ECSE teachers are fantastic.  It is the best feeling in the world to know that you have a place to go each week where you can let it all out, cry, laugh, and get support from other parents in your situation and know you're not being judged.

Alex & Megan Wenner	Wenner Impact Statement Although I had had a lot of experience with children, and thought I knew what I was in for as a mom, I felt isolated and bewildered by a new baby who seemed to cry harder the more I tried to soothe him. My ECFE class was a life-line.
	Keller Impact Statement I cannot tell you how much [ECFE's] special ECSE classes saved me when I was at my lowest points.  The first time I got to the class with other special needs parents, I cried with relief at finding someone who was having the same feelings I was.