In the news:

• Emergency Preparedness
• Meet the Team: Pamela Ray
• Board Business: Can Parent Fees Alone Fund a Quality Child Care Center?

Congratulations to the following centers for achieving NAEYC re-accreditation:

• Advantage Learning Center, Lakewood, CO

• Diplotots, Washington, DC

• Harry Pregerson CDC, Los Angeles, CA

• Joyful Noise East, Portland, OR

• Joyful Noise Downtown, Portland, OR

• Fingerprints CDC, Washington, DC

• Stout Street Children’s Center Denver, CO

Health and Safety Toolkit

Ensuring children’s health and safety is at the forefront of early care and education. To help programs protect the well-being of children, the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness developed the HEALTHY STATES: HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING TOOLKIT.

This tool provides resources, webinars and training to assist programs in going beyond minimum requirements and achieving best practice competencies.  Resources are categorized by basic requirements and best practice and arranged by topic, such as Food Allergies and Safe Sleep. Reach to the GOLD Standard and download a copy today: https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.

gov/sites/default/files/pdf/aap-health-and-safety-toolkit.pdf

Quote of the Month:

Childhood is a place as well as 
time”
~May Sarton

Find out more about GSA Child Care:

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Contributions and comments on Child Care Now are welcome and encouraged.

Consumer Products Information

Would you like to learn more about consumer product recalls? Sign up for alerts by clicking the Consumer Product Safety Commission logo.

Emergency Preparedness

Do you know about Child Care Aware of America’s Emergency Preparedness resources?  Child Care Aware of America provides free comprehensive tools, publications, and resources. You can access planning guides, posters, checklists, drill logs, and off-site evacuation site agreements. Go to: https://usa.childcareaware.org/advocacy-public-policy/crisis-and-disaster-resources/caregiver-and-ccrr-tools-publications-and-resources/

Are you prepared to support breastfed infants during an emergency? You should plan how you will take each breastfed baby’s milk with you in the event of an emergency. Here are some resources for storing and supporting breast-fed babies in an emergency.

Meet the Team: Pamela Ray

Pictured: Emily Murphy, GSA Administrator (left) and Pamela Ray, Child Care East Zone Manager (right).

Introducing... Pamela Ray, Child Care East Zone Manager

Board Business: Can Parent Fees Alone Fund a Quality Child Care Center?

Most child care boards I work with want their centers to have both low tuition rates and high quality staff and programs.  They want the staff to earn a good living wage, especially with today’s emphasis for degreed child care staff.  Yet child care tuition continues to be high and child care wages continue to be low. They are interconnected.

Parent fees alone cannot adequately fund delivering a quality child care center with well-trained staff and good staff salaries. Additional funding streams are necessary to bridge the gap. The Board plays an important role in addressing this dilemma by providing child care tuition assistance scholarships and fundraising, essential board functions. Here are some resources which explain the economic reality of child care:

Why Does Child Care Cost So Much Yet Providers Make So Little?, Child Care Aware of America. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krejcn2ivYU

Small Children, Small Pay: Why Child Care Pays So Little. Fuchs,V. and Coleman, M.  The American Prospect. Retrieved from https://prospect.org/article/small-children-small-pay-why-child-care-pays-so-little

As you identify more revenue streams, please consider sharing your experience with others. Currently, several boards are trying to get their centers approved as a Universal Pre-K site. If you have any experience with that, please let us know. 

We created a network for Boards, just like yours, to share best practices and ideas. The group is always looking for successful fundraisers, grants, or donations. Please join the GSA Child Care Facebook group and share your ideas. To join the GSA Child Care Facebook group, enter “Federal Child Care Center Boards” in the Facebook search field. Click on the link to request access. We will verify and add you to the group, so you can start sharing best practices and lessons learned during your Board service.