Greetings!
Sunday, May 1: Worthy Wage Day!
Worthy Wage Day, or May Day, is a national day of action held annually on May 1st since 1992. It was created by Early Educators to rally for "rights, raises, and respect." Learn more.
National Child Care Provider Day is annually celebrated on the Friday before Mother's Day. The special day recognizes child care providers, teachers, and other educators of young children everywhere. Check out opportunities to get involved through Child Care Aware of America.
1) Living wages for child care providers
2) An equitable child care system built on racial justice
3) Affordable child care for all families
May 2-6, 2022 is Teacher Appreciation Week!
We are saying 'thank you’ this week, and throughout the year, to the extraordinary educators who have worked tirelessly to support children and families, despite such an unpredictable year.
What better way to celebrate than the recent announcements about the rollout of Prop C funds for ECE teacher compensation in San Francisco! The Requests for Application (RFA) went out to all programs currently funded by the Office of Early Care and Education's Early Learning San Francisco (OECE's ELS) program. Mayor Breed's office sent the following press release out last week—announcing the funds for both compensation and workforce conditions improvements:
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Let these special events and days of action be a reminder to support educators today, and every day.
In community,
Sara & Anna
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Join your fellow community members in advocating for ECE!
STATE BUDGET
Extending family fee waivers (AB 92) - Families with child care subsidies have had the State pay their family fee’s during the pandemic. This has kept critically needed dollars in families' pockets. We urge the State to continue waiving family fees
Stabilizing reimbursement for providers (AB 1649) - To ensure providers are able to plan for their monthly expenses, we must continue to reimburse providers at a consistent monthly rate
Aid to provide healthy meals for children in child care (SB 1481) - The state must allocate more ongoing funding to The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to increase the reimbursement rate
A truly universal preschool system (SB 976) - This will ensure that working families have access to schooling and care options for their young children that allows for flexible hours, such as early drop-off, late pick-up, weekend care or year-round care.
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For ECE community members in SF:
San Francisco's OECE Citizen's Advisory Committee has a Vacancy Notice & Application Opportunity!
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For NAEYC members:
Seventeen national organizations dedicated to young children have come together to form a new Commission on Professional Excellence in Early Childhood Education.
The Commission’s mission, as originally outlined in the Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession, is to develop and promote the framework for a unified, cohesive, and equitable early childhood education profession informed by and in partnership with early childhood educators across states and settings.
Upon launch and in ongoing recognition of the importance of educators’ voices, the Commission is opening an application process for individual early childhood educators to apply to be co-equal, full voting members of the Commission. Applications are open until Friday May 27th, and all associated expenses for early childhood educators to participate will be covered by the Commission’s organizational members. The Commission will appoint up to seven early childhood educators, representing a diverse cross-section of the profession.
Here are links to additional details:
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Prenatal 5 (P5) Fiscal Strategies is leading the California Cost of Quality study to develop a cost model that can be used to inform child care subsidy reimbursement rates.
STUDY OVERVIEW (1 page):
CHILD CARE PROVIDER SURVEY
A key part of the Cost of Quality study is the child care provider survey. This survey gathers data on the main expenses incurred to operate a child care program. This data will help inform the cost model.
We want all providers in the state to complete the survey to ensure we have data that reflects the diversity of programs across California. The survey is available online and can be completed on a computer or mobile device. All individual responses are kept confidential and will only be available to the study team.
Click here to access the survey:
INFORMATION SESSIONS
P5 is also hosting a series of information sessions to share more about the Cost of Quality study and ways providers and the broader community can engage with the study. Please see details and registration links below:
SESSION 1
April 27, 2022
1:00-2:00pm PT
SESSION 2
May 3, 2022
6:30-7:30pm PT
SESSION 3
May 5, 2022
1:00-2:00pm PT
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Loan Forgiveness for ECE Educators |
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To help early childhood educators identify and understand student loan forgiveness options that may be available to them, NAEYC has compiled a new resource:
This resource summarizes three federal loan forgiveness programs – Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and the temporary expanded PSLF program, Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, and Federal Perkins Loan Cancellation – and steps educators can take to learn more about pursuing these relief opportunities.
For deeper dives into the PSLF program and the temporary expansion, make sure you check out recordings of recent webinars held especially for the early childhood field:
Additionally, this week, President Biden and the U.S. Department of Education announced that the pause on student loan repayment, interest, and collections will continue through August 31, 2022. Learn more about the student loan repayment extension here.
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The Early Education Division (EED) hosts weekly Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) virtual office hours on Wednesday afternoons targeted for local educational agencies (school districts, charter schools, county offices of education) to ask questions and receive technical assistance about UPK implementation.
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Parenting While Black 2022
Every other Monday until May 16 at 1:30pm (PDT)
This free Webinar Series offers a safe and welcoming space to hold conversations for and by Black families. All are welcome to join and engage in these powerful conversations!
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The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind
Wednesday, May 18 from 7:00 – 8:15pm (PDT)
Join renowned author and child development expert Dr. Dan Siegel for an engaging presentation based on his bestselling book, The Whole-Brain Child. Dr. Siegel will discuss skills for promoting your child's well-being in ways that lead to a flexible, flourishing mind and compassionate, rewarding relationships.
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The Community Preschool - Preschool Teacher
Full time | Salary range: $56,000 to $60,000 per year
*We recognize there are many available ECE positions during any given month and we do our best to share the vacancies shared with us.
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Are you an Early Care Educator in San Francisco?
¿Es usted un educador de cuidado infantil en San Francisco?
您是舊金山的早期護理教育工作者嗎？
ECESF is a grassroots organization bringing San Francisco early care educators together across diverse ECE community and public sites. We are peers supporting each other, making sure we all know what's happening, and ensuring that new programs implemented to help us and the important work we do really do make a difference. If you are passionate about child care and education and know that a well-paid, stable workforce and great working conditions are essential to deliver great services, you won’t want to miss out on the discussions happening in our ECESF community including:
- Educator focus groups
- Core leadership meetings
- Teacher-only advocacy meetings
- Special events & community discussions
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Support our work to create a well-compensated and valued ECE workforce by making a financial contribution. Your gift is fully tax-deductible. |
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Follow us on social media! |
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ECESF receives funding from the Office of Early Care and Education to provide field building and peer supports to early care educators, as well as generous donations and in-kind contributions to build our advocacy and community work from individual early care educators, and allies, community organizations and agencies. Support our work. Donate! |
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