September is National Preparedness Month and Child Care of Aware® of America’s Emergency Preparedness Team is gearing up for a fun month! We will be posting a lot of tools, tips, and resources throughout the month of September.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its new reimbursement rates for the Child and Adult Food Care Program (CACFP). The rates are effective from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017. USDA is required to update reimbursement rates for the program annually, on July 1, to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index.

With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) is excited to partner with child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other related agencies to learn more about how families make child care choices. We are hosting family focus groups and key informant interviews with industry stakeholders across the nation throughout July and August. The family focus groups, key informant interviews, and newly launched Child Care Information Poll for parents provide an excellent opportunity to better understand the unique information needs families have when making child care decisions.

Child Care Aware® of America, in partnership with the Administration for Children and Family’s (ACF) National Center for Early Childhood Health and Wellness (NCECHW), is pleased to announce a train-the-trainer funding opportunity for child care health and safety. Healthy and Safe Child Care: A Training of Trainers Opportunity is a training support and incentive grant designed to broaden the capacity of child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) to provide health and safety training to child care providers in support of Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) health and safety training requirements. The grant will also provide curriculum and initial training that supports ACF’s Caring for Our Children Basics standards.

Parents and child care providers agree that feeding and sleep schedules are important to help keep their children healthy. The same goes for childhood immunizations. Vaccinating children on time is the best way to protect them from 14 serious and potentially deadly diseases before their second birthday, and it’s a shared responsibility.