April Dodge-Ostendorf

April Dodge-Ostendorf
April Dodge-Ostendorf, MSW, is the Chief of Staff at Child Care Aware® of America. She has 20 years of professional experience advancing social service systems for children and families at local, state and national levels. April’s current work includes building cross-organizational knowledge and capacity for effective partnership engagement, fund development, and strategic alignment.

Recent Posts

Promising Practices: Reaching Underserved Families and Caregivers

By April Dodge-Ostendorf on February 15, 2019

 

Bright by Three is a Colorado-based organization that equips families with tools to promote their child’s healthy development through the most pivotal stages of growth during the earliest years of life. The organization partners with pediatricians, researchers and other child development experts to design program materials in English and Spanish, delivered to families through a visitation program and Bright by Text. Since its launch in 1995, Bright by Three has given early education and support to more than 200,000 families in Colorado. In 2012, the organization decided to look into how they could expand their reach to parents and caregivers not served by the visitation program.

Topics: Business Operations for CCR&Rs, Family & Community Engagement, Best Practices

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5 Ways Poverty Impacts Early Brain Development and How You Can Help

By April Dodge-Ostendorf on January 17, 2019

Numerous studies show the foundation for lifelong learning is established during the first five years of brain development. Parents, child care providers and other adults providing care to children are instrumental in encouraging minds to grow healthy and strong. In fact, during these early years, more than one million new neural connections form every second. Thanks to new technology, neuroscientists have even been able to capture images that show how a child’s brain “lights up” during positive interactions with responsive caregivers.

Topics: Family & Community Engagement

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Promising Practices: Using Spanish Radio to Share Child Care Resources

By April Dodge-Ostendorf on January 11, 2019

This story begins in 2008, with Romilia Schlueter—a respected leader in the Dane County, Wisconsin Latina/o community, with decades of experience in the family support and early childhood fields. At the time, she was working at a family resource center that was a member of Supporting Families Together Association (SFTA), Wisconsin’s statewide child care resource and referral agency. The center had a long list of Spanish-speaking families waiting to be accepted into their early childhood home visitation program. Seeing an opportunity to help meet that need, Romilia came up with the idea of delivering early childhood information to families and caregivers via a weekly Spanish-language radio program. Before long Romilia and La Movida, a popular Spanish radio station in Madison, launched Aprendiendo Juntos Fortalecemos la Familia (Learning Together We Strengthen the Family), with Romilia as the host. This initial program evolved into Apoyando Familias, Aprendiendo Juntos (Supporting Families, Learning Together) when Romilia took a position with SFTA in 2011. The radio program was reformatted and its website added a blog, where audio recordings and scripts of more than 300 programs are archived.

Topics: Business Operations for CCR&Rs, Family & Community Engagement

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Celebrating Family Voices

By April Dodge-Ostendorf on January 02, 2019

In 2018, families joined Child Care Aware® of America in a shared mission to move the needle on quality and affordable child care forward. Several issues topped their list of concerns: 

Topics: Systems Building, Family & Community Engagement

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New Consumer Education Tools & Resources Created with the CCR&R in Mind

By April Dodge-Ostendorf on September 21, 2018

 

As a Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency, you play an important role in ensuring consumers receive quality information and are engaged around early care and education topics. That’s why Child Care Aware® of America created a new section of our website devoted to information and materials that can help you:

  1. Inform and engage early care and education professionals, families and community stakeholders using best-practices;
  2. Share content that speaks to an array of family experiences, especially those outlined in Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG); and
  3. Reach families at various points in their journeys, when they will benefit from it the most.

 

Topics: Family & Community Engagement

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VIDEO: Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies Are Here For You

By April Dodge-Ostendorf on July 30, 2018

The end of summer is a busy time for families seeking child care. This video describes what families and child care resource and referral (CCR&R) professionals, from around the nation, have to say about child care assistance available in your community.

Topics: Family Stories

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