CAPPA was a proud co-sponsor of the Second Annual Convening for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, hosted on Wednesday, November 6.  Over 160 Program Administrators, Navigators, County Social Workers and Advocates from all 45 counties implementing the Program attended to share success stories and strategies.  The Child Care Resource Center presented a video on the history of the Bridge Program, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/1gHpPxVhlSc.  Thank you to our co-sponsors: Children Now, Child Care Resource Center, Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles, Child Welfare Directors Association of California, California Child Care Resource & Referral Network, First 5 California and First 5 Los Angeles.

 

Email Diana Dominguez at [email protected] to join the mailing list for next year's Convening.  An evaluation survey and materials are coming soon.

Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, Dolores Huerta and Conway Collis, co-chair of the state Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force and leader of the  EndChildPovertyCA.org campaign, convened community leaders on Thursday, Oct. 31 to discuss child poverty in 

San Bernardino to work together to urge state lawmakers to finish implementing the Task Force plan to end deep child poverty in California. Participants met at the headquarters at the Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino.

"We all know that poverty doesn't happen by chance. It's a direct result of public policy and generational poverty," Assemblymember Reyes said as she called for further action on the Task Force Plan. "In San Bernardino County, 345,000 people live in poverty, and children are the most vulnerable population."

"I know when you think of the 'IE,' you think of 'Inland Empire.' From now on, I want you to think 'Inclusion and Equity," she added.

"California allowed this to happen in part because there has never been a comprehensive plan," said Collis of the state's worst-in-nation child poverty crisis. "Now we have a plan that's science based and data based."

"This is not an expense, it's an investment. If we invest in ending child poverty, it saves money in the long run," said Dolores Huerta. "We have a solution. The only thing that's lacking now is the will to make it happen."

"How can anyone go to sleep at night knowing that we have children suffering in poverty," she added.

"No matter what the numbers are that you hear about poverty, these are our children, every single one of them. So we cannot hold our heads high until every one of our kids is safe and well," said Sister Joyce Weller of the Daughters of Charity.

The End Child Poverty CA Campaign is a joint project of GRACE and the GRACE End Child Poverty Institute partnering with the Dolores Huerta Foundation. GRACE is a ministry of Ministry Services of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

I am blown away! Having just finished my first six months as Chief Executive Officer at Children's Council, I am thrilled to report that this organization is humming!  We are truly positioned to make a huge difference at this moment in history. I believe it is our responsibility to fulfill our potential and make that impact in our community. 

Because you are a member of the Children's Council community, I'd like to share with you some of the amazing things I've learned. I hope you'll be as inspired and excited as I am about what we're doing now and about some of the incredible opportunities that lie ahead. 

I began my tenure with a listening tour, speaking with our own talented and dedicated staff, our Board of Directors, and many of you in our community. I'd like to offer a special thanks to Sandee Blechman for her investment of time and energy in my acclimation during her final weeks before retirement.  The task of moving our mission forward is an exciting undertaking, which will require a strong, collective effort.

Under the guidance of our Board Chair,  Anna Nordberg, we are developing a three-year strategic plan. It is clear to me that at this moment, with unprecedented local and state political support, our ever-expanding network of child champions across the nation, and groundbreaking academic research about the physiological, social, and economic benefits of early education,  we stand within a window of opportunity that doesn't come along very often. This is our opportunity to dream big about how we can best prepare our youngest children for school and for life. 

This month, we heard from the Governor's office about their intention to widen their investment in early childhood education. We heard from policy experts about the convergence of knowledge in brain science and the economic indicators that affirm the investment in child care as one that will bring huge ROI to our communities. And most of all, we heard confirmation from our peers that the unmet need is still immense. 

Families across our state are struggling to make ends meet, and the high cost of living in California is exacerbated for many families by the economic ramifications of early care and education. Supporting children in their infancy and toddler years is expensive, but that does not relieve us of our duty to do so. It simply means that we all need to come together to share in the mission. Only together will we lift up our community!

 

"There are many parents in California who work outside of the traditional Monday through Friday nine to five schedule. Finding child care can be hard for many families, but during these hours it's particularly difficult - especially since many of these jobs are also low wage, making finding affordable care even less likely. This study explores the experiences of both parents working nontraditional hours, as well as the child care providers who care for their children. Online surveys, in-person focus groups, and phone interviews were all employed to gather both quantitative and qualitative data from parents and providers throughout California. 

Parents expressed: a lack of predictability and flexibility in their workplace, with financial and professional consequences when they didn't have child care (many parents also had to quit jobs due to child care issues); an overall preference for licensed care during nontraditional hours, as it's seen as more reliable; concern about transportation, especially when it disrupts the child's sleep; and a lot of gratitude and satisfaction for those with a family child care provider, as they offer flexible schedules. Providers expressed: disincentives to accept children with a subsidy, as the payment is lower and less predictable; an obligation to extend their hours to accommodate all the families' schedules, often resulting in working up to 24 hours a day; and little family or personal time, leading to exhaustion, burnout, and negative health consequences. 

The policy recommendations generated from the results are the following: pay providers who accept subsidies in alignment with private pay families; allow license-exempt providers to provide care in the child's home; licensed providers should be able to care for a child the entire night if agreed upon by the parents and provider; create a mechanism for providers to take vacation and paid sick time; create a shared services model to support the business practices and operation of providers so they can focus more attention on providing quality care; ensure full commute times are accounted for in subsidy reimbursements; increase reimbursement rates during nontraditional hours; put procedures in place that ensure clear communication and understanding between Alternative Payment programs, parents, and providers; and create family-friendly work policies."

AACTE and the EdPrepLab partner to present this webinar on social and emotional learning, cultural competence and equity in teacher preparation. Participants will learn how teacher educators can integrate social and emotional learning and cultural competence into educator preparation, with the goal of equipping teachers to consider the needs of the whole child with equity in mind. Connections and intersections between social and emotional learning, cultural competence, and equity will be explored in conceptual and practical terms.

Our panel of experts featured include:

• Nancy Markowitz - Executive Director, Center for Reaching and Teaching the Whole Child
• Patricia Swanson - Professor and Chair, Department of Teacher Education, San Jose State University
• Pat Norman - Professor of Education and Coordinator of Elementary MAT program, Trinity University
• Mari Jones - Faculty and Project Co-Director of the Deeper Learning Hub, High Tech High Graduate School of Education
• Moderated by Maria Hyler - Deputy Director of LPI's Washington, DC office and Senior Researcher

Link to the register .