On Thursday, March 30, 2017, around 6 p.m., a fire was reported under a section of I-85 in Atlanta. The fire ultimately caused a section of the interstate to collapse around 7 p.m., stranding motorists for hours and creating a more than five mile backup of traffic. The mayor has described this event as a ‘transportation crisis’, and this section of the I-85 will remain closed for the foreseeable future. On Thursday evening Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency and vowed to allocate resources aimed to reduce traffic disruption. Luckily no one was injured in the collapse, a testament to the great work of the fire and police departments who responded to the incident and quickly evacuated the area.

Spotlight On

Bring Out the Best in Your Children

Child Care Aware® of America’s Executive Director, Dr. Lynette M. Fraga had the pleasure of speaking with The Preschool Podcast, a platform for leaders in early childhood education to share their experiences, thoughts and insights in the world of early learning.

Talk about change. Colorado’s early care and education system is undergoing major shifts, largely in response to new requirements at the state and federal levels. For starters, there are the new federal requirements in the reauthorized Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act. In addition, last year Colorado’s child care licensing regulations were updated and now are among the strongest in the nation. For the first time, child care health consultants in the state are required to take introductory training, and child care staff who work with infants must undergo annual training on safe sleep practices.

Every week in the United States, nearly 11 million children younger than age five are in some type of child care arrangement. While all families with young children benefit from an awareness and knowledge of high-quality, affordable child care options that match their need for safe, healthy, and developmentally appropriate care, children from economically challenged and diverse families benefit even more monumentally from a high-quality child care environment. There are, however, many barriers for low-income and otherwise vulnerable families accessing care including preventable barriers such as the lack of knowledge of early care options.