Greetings!
“How do we go on,
After the unthinkable happens?
How can we carry the burden of knowing the world can be cruel and dangerous,
and the future so unpredictable?
How do we grieve with empty arms
and a mind filled with echoing memories?”
With gun violence devastating our communities, we want to acknowledge the fear, pain, anger, and sadness our child care community is experiencing as they answer the unanswerable questions that children will ask, and as they support children’s well-being each and every day. We refuse to put the responsibility on schools to handle men with weapons of war and we must rethink ‘safety’ in the wake of Uvalde. We should not have to live in fear that gunfire can ring out at any moment, whether it's at an elementary school in Uvalde, a supermarket in Buffalo, a front porch in Philadelphia, a medical office in Tulsa, or graduations across the country. We deserve more.
Today is National Gun Violence Awareness Day and start of Wear Orange Weekend
We encourage you to #WearOrange and demand action.
Join on Saturday, June 4 at the Golden Gate Bridge SF Visitor Plaza at 11:30am for a
NAEYC has developed resources that support early childhood educators as they respond to violence in their communities and elsewhere. These include:
Read below for more ways to advocate, organize, and make change happen in our community!
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In solidarity,
Sara & Anna
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What's happening in ECE Policies & Budgets? |
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Stay informed in order to secure funds for ECE!
While we're celebrating Prop C "ECE for All" funds being released for their intended purpose: expanding access to quality early care and education services for children and families; and stabilizing the teaching workforce through improvements to compensation and working conditions to allow for expanded and quality services—we are aware of the additional needs for whole child and family services outside of early care and education sites. The Mayor has allocated $7M of ECE (Prop C) funds over two years for family resource centers—$3.5M annually.
Each of you who know there are family and child needs in addition to early care & education, understand the importance of continued advocacy to the Mayor and supervisors to find other funding for children and family services outside of Prop C's "ECE for All" funds—and that we are only at the first step of our goal of living wages for all early educators & parity with San Francisco's K3 public school educators, and equity-based universal ECE services. Prop Cs funds alone are not enough.
Want to be part of advocating for more funding for children and family services as well as ECE funding? Email us at info@ecesf.org.
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Family Fee Waivers for FY 2022–23
Attention: All California State Preschool Program Executive Directors, Program Directors, and other interested parties
The budget conversations between the Legislature and the Governor are ongoing and no version of the budget has been signed by the Governor yet. However, to ensure a greater burden is not placed on the subsidized early education field based on potential changes in the budget, the CDE asks all California State Preschool Program contractors to continue to hold off on family fee billing and collection for July 2022, until the final version of the budget is signed by the Governor. When the final bill language is completed and has been signed by the Governor, the CDE will issue additional guidance related to family fees.
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Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have unveiled a revamped child care & early learning proposal — a streamlined version of what was included in Build Back Better. This is a clear signal that they believe child care can and must be included in the budget reconciliation package under consideration.
But this proposal will not advance unless every Democratic senator — including California's — puts their full support behind it.
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Children can’t vote, but you can! What things are important to and for your children? Using your voting power allows you to advocate on behalf of your children and your community.
The Primary Election is NEXT Tuesday, June 7
If you are registered to vote with an address in San Francisco, a vote-by-mail ballot will automatically be mailed to you. Did you forget to register? You can still vote all the way through Election Day! Go to City Hall or your polling place and tell them you want to "register conditionally and vote provisionally."
How do I decide who/what I should vote for?
ECESF cannot take a position on candidates, however, we can provide these resources to help you make informed decisions:
Why so many elections?
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Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) |
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Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) Webinar
Wednesday, June 8, 2022, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The Early Education Division, in collaboration with the Opportunities for All Branch, at the California Department of Education (CDE) is pleased to announce the next installment of the Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) Webinar Series. This webinar is the third in the Series focused on working with and supporting our education partners as they consider, plan for, and implement UPK.
CDE will collaborate with Head Start leaders to explore how to leverage the different funding sources to meet the needs of families, students, & programs while supporting transitions from Head Start to TK-12.
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National Black Child Development Week (NBCDW)
June 6th - 11th, 2022
This week is a time to raise community awareness about important issues impacting Black children and families. NBCDW 2022 will highlight the Black Child National Agenda and NBCDI Affiliates will host discussions and events.
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CDE June Rate and Quality Stakeholder Workgroup meeting
Friday, June 10, 2022
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. PST
Attention: Executive Directors and Program Directors of All CDE Subsidized Early Learning and Care Programs
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Live Virtual Orientations or Family Child Care Homes (FCCHs)
Orientations begin June 24, 2022 - August 26, 2022
The Community Care Licensing Division, Child Care Program (CCP), hosts live virtual orientations for FCCH. The live virtual orientations are instructor-led and live streamed through Zoom. Interpreters will be available to provide oral interpretations in Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Early registration is recommended. Cost: $25.00. Pre-registration and receipt of payment is required. To pre-register for the above orientations, contact your local regional office.
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"How to restore California’s ailing child care system: Pay the teachers"
In the biggest move any state has made to address child care costs, New Mexico will offer a year of free child care to most families in the state (i.e., those earning up to about $111,000 for a family of four).
Costs were already on the rise before the pandemic exacerbated the problem. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates child care costs went up 214% between 1990 and 2020, while the average family income rose 143%. And without affordable choices — or a national paid family leave policy — women often have to stay out of the workforce to care for kids.
"The lack of childcare centers has pushed Bay Area moms to open their own."
"Will there be enough teachers for California’s ambitious plans for its youngest students?"
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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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