“Good morning! I sure have missed your smiling face! Could we set up a virtual visit this week so I could see you and we could talk about how everything is going in your program?”

As funny as this may sound, this has gotten one of our outstanding consultants many virtual visits.

Connections are so important when working with child care providers. Consultants make many connections with the providers with whom they work. For the consultant mentioned above, just saying she misses seeing them is enough to rekindle that connection during this time of social distancing and virtual consultation visits. The providers missed the consultant too, and were happy to tackle technology just to see their consultant again!

Takeaways:

• First Five Nebraska is sparking the early childhood conversation among business leaders through research, policy change and strategic engagement.
• First Five Nebraska’s study, “The Bottom Line,” shows gaps in child care costs Nebraska nearly $1.4 billion annually in lost family income, business productivity and state revenues.

Takeaways:

• Adventist HealthCare’s investments were a direct result of what they heard from employees
• Partnering with organizations, such as The Lourie Center and KinderCare, allowed Adventist HealthCare to move quickly and rely on the expertise of those organizations

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March, companies had to quickly adjust in order to support their employees with the changes that were taking place. For many, child care was the number one issue.

Winter break is right around the corner! 2020’s winter break (like most things) is impacted by COVID-19. The  pandemic continues to sweep the nation. As the weather has turned colder and people have retreated indoors, virus transmission rates are soaring to levels not yet seen since the pandemic began. We all must do our part to reduce community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19. That means that this year’s winter break may look and feel a little different for children and their families. 

Because of COVID-19, concerns for young children’s physical and mental well-being have skyrocketed. These concerns are magnified in children and caretakers experiencing compromised or vulnerable situations. That's why the mental and physical health benefits of regular time outside is more important than ever. Now is the perfect time to improve and maximize your outdoor play environments as a critical tool in your healthy child care.

We know that high-quality early learning environments fuel the success of children and have positive social, economic and health impacts that last into adulthood.[1]

States can strongly influence whether their child care systems are quality-driven or not, especially in the areas of health and safety. That’s because quality can be achieved, in part, through strong state licensing regulations.