I finally was able to make contact with a Nursery Manager in London. Her name is Lindsey Barrett and has been a manager for Busy Bees child care center for 18 years and has been with Busy Bees since the center opened 20 years ago. Their center is open for children aged 12 weeks to 5 years old, with 76 children enrolled. I did not have the chance to directly discuss poverty in her community (I will have a response early next week) but I did do research on poverty levels in London in preparation for our conversation. Over the last two decades London has seen a rise in poverty levels, particulary in working adults, boroughs are becoming overcrowded and children in Southwark, Enfield, Lambeth and Harrow are more likely to pass away before their first birthday than children born elsewhere in London (http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/key-facts/). I learned that Busy Bee child care centers have taken the initiative to "adopt" a charity each year and they spend the year fundraising for the charity. I think this is a great! I will update this post once I hear back from Lindsey, she said it has been a really busy week at her center!
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Child Care Aware of America
I focused on the organization, Child Care Aware of America. The link for this organization is www.naccrra.org.
This organization focuses on bettering our country to better support, educate, and protect all children. NACCRRA works with national and state level agencies to create public policies and initatives in education. NACCRRA created a strategic plan to span from 2010-2015, this is the link to read about their plan, http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/strategic_plan_2010-2015.pdf.
On their website they have a blog that I subscribed to and this week they focused on the first ever Rally4Babies which was sponsored by ZERO-TO-THREE. The rally was to bring awareness to the importance of supporting early learning for infants and toddlers and to bring Americans together to recognize the importance of supporting policies that will enhance early learning and development for infants and toddlers.
I searched through the website to find information that pertained to this week's topics and ideas and found a section on Child Demographics with the most recent report from April 2013. The fact sheet can be found at http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2013/census_bureau_fact_sheet_april_2013.pdf. The fact sheet is titled "Who's Minding the Kids?" and is based off of the Census Report found at http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p70-135.pdf. This report details child care arrangements based on the family structure, the family's work schedule, poverty level, and parent ethnicity. The report is a great resource, especially for child care agencies and organizations to see the needs of our population.
This organization focuses on bettering our country to better support, educate, and protect all children. NACCRRA works with national and state level agencies to create public policies and initatives in education. NACCRRA created a strategic plan to span from 2010-2015, this is the link to read about their plan, http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/strategic_plan_2010-2015.pdf.
On their website they have a blog that I subscribed to and this week they focused on the first ever Rally4Babies which was sponsored by ZERO-TO-THREE. The rally was to bring awareness to the importance of supporting early learning for infants and toddlers and to bring Americans together to recognize the importance of supporting policies that will enhance early learning and development for infants and toddlers.
I searched through the website to find information that pertained to this week's topics and ideas and found a section on Child Demographics with the most recent report from April 2013. The fact sheet can be found at http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2013/census_bureau_fact_sheet_april_2013.pdf. The fact sheet is titled "Who's Minding the Kids?" and is based off of the Census Report found at http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p70-135.pdf. This report details child care arrangements based on the family structure, the family's work schedule, poverty level, and parent ethnicity. The report is a great resource, especially for child care agencies and organizations to see the needs of our population.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources
Part 1
As I have stated many times before, my husband's family is from the Netherlands. I chose to contact UNICEF in the Netherlands to ask for a professional contact within their organization. The information team responded fairly quickly to my request and I am now waiting to see if they can put me in direct contact with a professional. If I am unable to make contact, I will reach out to my father-in-law and see if he can help contact someone in the schools where he used to work.
The childcare company I work for has several centers internationally and the CEO of my company was kind enough to reach out to her colleagues in the UK and Singapore in order to help me make contact with one of the Directors. I hope to hear something by Monday or by the end of the week.
Part 2
For the expanding resources part I decided to look further into NACCRRA. My husband is a Marine and I take great pride in the opportunities the military has to offer. My company is involved in NACCRRA and provides reduced tuition for families within the military. I would like to be more involved in this aspect of public policy and advocacy of military families. I plan on getting a membership and hopefully becoming more active as an individual in NACCRRA. I am already a member of NAEYC and receive their publication Young Child.
As I have stated many times before, my husband's family is from the Netherlands. I chose to contact UNICEF in the Netherlands to ask for a professional contact within their organization. The information team responded fairly quickly to my request and I am now waiting to see if they can put me in direct contact with a professional. If I am unable to make contact, I will reach out to my father-in-law and see if he can help contact someone in the schools where he used to work.
The childcare company I work for has several centers internationally and the CEO of my company was kind enough to reach out to her colleagues in the UK and Singapore in order to help me make contact with one of the Directors. I hope to hear something by Monday or by the end of the week.
Part 2
For the expanding resources part I decided to look further into NACCRRA. My husband is a Marine and I take great pride in the opportunities the military has to offer. My company is involved in NACCRRA and provides reduced tuition for families within the military. I would like to be more involved in this aspect of public policy and advocacy of military families. I plan on getting a membership and hopefully becoming more active as an individual in NACCRRA. I am already a member of NAEYC and receive their publication Young Child.
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