Building a User-Friendly Website to Support CCDBG Implementation

By Krista Scott on May 19, 2016

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) requires that states develop consumer education information for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) parents, providers, and the general public on the following topics:

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

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Child Care Aware® of America Announces 10 Sites For Vroom Rollout

By Chrisi West on January 29, 2016

Arlington, VA – Today, Child Care Aware® of America announces the selection of ten sites across the country that will join a national network of communities, states, and organizations activating Vroom, an initiative of the Bezos Family Foundation that is helping parents across the country promote brain development in children birth to five years old.

Topics: Systems Building, Family & Community Engagement, News

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Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Hispanic Heritage Month

By Lynette Fraga, Ph.D. on October 15, 2015

This week marks the 25th anniversary of Hispanic Heritage Month, and kicks off the Latinos Achieve White House Initiative.

Outgoing Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, describes the importance of the Latinos Achieve initiative to our children and our nation:

“Today, nearly one in four students in our nation’s public schools is a Hispanic youth. Making sure they have the opportunity to achieve their dreams isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also a matter of our shared success as a country. In just the next few decades, Hispanics will represent nearly one in three American workers. It’s clear; the future of our nation is closely connected to the future of our Hispanic communities. When we lift up the Hispanic community, we strengthen our nation. When we create more ladders of opportunity, we provide the chance for all Americans to reach their greatest potential.”

There are currently 230 programs, models, and organizations that are part of the “Bright Spots in Hispanic Education ” – ongoing efforts across the country at all levels, meant to support Latino educational attainment and excellence. These programs are helping to close the achievement gap. If you’d like to nominate a “Bright Spot” you still can! Get more information on the program and nominating process at ed.gov/hispanic-initiative.

Follow the call of Senior White House Advisor, Jaqueline Cortez Wang to take part in the Latinos Achieve Day of Action! Use the #LatinosAchieve hashtag on October 15 to highlight Latino achievement and inspire a positive narrative on Latino contributions across all social media platforms. Share what Latinos Achieve means to you, and why it’s important. Tell us what you’ll do to ensure that Latinos Achieve.

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Topics: Family & Community Engagement, News

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Announcing the Partnership with Bezos Family Foundation Focused on Family Engagement

By Chrisi West on October 12, 2015

Washington, D.C. – Child Care Aware® of America is pleased to announce an exciting partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation focused on encouraging family engagement through Vroom, a national initiative that empowers parents to turn everyday activities into brain building moments for their children.

Vroom provides interactive tools and resources that highlight the science behind early brain development, showing parents how they can build their children’s brains in everyday moments like bath time and meal time. The tools are free of cost, simple enough to fit into parents’ daily routines, and right at their fingertips.

This partnership will help fuel Vroom’s goal of catalyzing a culture shift – one that begins with parents and extends to families, providers, companies, and communities working together to support brain development during the first five years of life. Child Care Aware® of America will activate it’s nationwide Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) network in the use of Vroom messages and tools. An initial ten sites will also be identified to create a blueprint for using Vroom in the childcare context through deeper programmatic integration. The CCR&R network will greatly expand Vroom’s reach to families through childcare providers across the country.

“Our partnership with The Bezos Family Foundation will engage and encourage providers and parents to take advantage of the seemingly ordinary moments to create extraordinary learning opportunities with each interaction,” said Lynette Fraga, Ph.D., Executive Director of Child Care Aware® of America. “This partnership is a great fit that provides mutual benefit with immeasurable rewards.”

Child Care Aware® of America, the nation’s leading voice for child care, leads the mission of more than 400 Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies across the country in working to ensure that all families in 99 percent of populated zip codes in the U.S. have access to safe, quality and affordable child care. With the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) at the end of 2014, it is clear that child care is a critical priority for American families.

For more information on the Vroom initiative, visit www.joinvroom.org/parents.

About Child Care Aware of America
Child Care Aware of America is our nation’s leading voice for child care. We work with state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other community partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. To achieve our mission, we lead projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate for child care policies that improve the lives of children and families. To learn more, visit usa.childcareaware.org. Follow us on Twitter @USAChildcare and on Facebook at facebook.com/usachildcare.

About Bezos Family Foundation
The Bezos Family Foundation is a private, independent foundation established by Jackie and Mike Bezos, who along with their children and spouses, serve as directors. Their vision is that all young people are prepared to achieve their full potential and make a meaningful contribution to society. The Bezos Family Foundation supports rigorous, inspired learning environments for young people, from birth through high school, to put their education into action. Through investments in research, public awareness, and programs, the foundation works to elevate the field of education and improve life outcomes for all children.

 

What is Vroom Week? Learn more!

Topics: Family & Community Engagement, Parenting, News

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Read Where You Are!

By Lynette Fraga, Ph.D. on July 27, 2015

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) is happy to join in the effort to prevent the “summer slide” by signing on to the Read Where You Are campaign put together by the Department of Education!

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

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Talk, Read, Sing – Start Early With Children to Fight the Word Gap

By Lynette Fraga, Ph.D. on July 23, 2015

“We know that right now during the first three years of life, a child born into a low-income family hears 30 million fewer words than a child born into a well-off family. By giving more of our kids access to high-quality pre-school and other early learning programs, and by helping parents get the tools they need to help their kids succeed, we can give those kids a better shot at the career they are capable of, and a life that will make us all better off.” – President Barack Obama

Research has proven time and again that talking to children, especially when they’re still too young to speak, gives them a leg up when they reach school age and beyond.

Talking to children and encouraging them to engage in discussion using the words they do know will help them grow their vocabulary and set the pace for their educational development moving forward.

Health and Human Services, Department of Education, and Too Small to Fail have just launched a new toolkit for families, providers and health professionals to help them engage children in speech: Talking is Teaching: TALK, READ, SING TOGETHER EVERY DAY!

The materials come in English and Spanish and were completed in partnership with Sesame Workshop and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and they include a roadmap of speech milestones for children birth to age five so parents and caregivers know what to look for in speech development.

Check out their milestone road map online, and then download these amazing tools to start engaging the children in your care in language growth – then share these resources with the parents and providers in your community!

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Topics: Family & Community Engagement, Best Practices, Parenting

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