Help Us Protect Child Care Centers & Employees NOW!

TOMORROW, Monday, March 23 at 10am…please be sure to help us let your Senators and Congressman know that you support their vote for a $50B stimulus package to save child care centers from closing forever. 93% of all licensed childcare centers are small businesses that cannot sustain themselves through this crisis for more than 2-4 weeks. We recommend that all business leaders post this on social media encouraging your employees and supporters to join in.

Why does Congress need to #FundChildCare in the emergency stimulus package?

• To protect the health and safety of essential workers and their children

• To support small businesses

• To make sure child care programs exist in the recovery

• To prevent tens of thousands of workers from losing their jobs

• To keep the child care industry from collapsing.

• To help American families

• To stabilize an essential service

• To stimulate consumer spending

• To provide the quality care children and families need, now and in the future

On Monday, March 23 from 10:00 am ET, tell it to Congress.

Find your local representatives:

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

https://www.senate.gov/senators/index.htm

Join NAEYC, Child Care Aware of America, the Early Care and Education Consortium, ZERO TO THREE, and more, with thousands of your fellow educators, advocates, and allies for a #FundChildCare #ChildCareNow Twitter Storm.

Thank you!

Source: America for Early Ed

NCCA wanted to take a moment and salute you, the first responders of Early Care and Education. Many of our parents need your services in order to perform their essential responsibilities. Do what you can to take care of yourselves and your staff during this stressful and unprecedented time.

Knowing that each day brings different questions and challenges regarding COVID-19 we are pleased to refer you to Child Care Aware of America’s website at www.childcareaware.org. They are providing the latest information to help families, child care providers, and policymakers navigate this uncharted territory. At NCCA we have reviewed many resources and found this one to be the most comprehensive and best organized, allowing for quick references on a variety of topics regarding this matter.  

Of course, we are also available to assist you so please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-877-537-6222.

While we know you are very busy dealing with all of the demands in your day to day operation we want to be sure and draw your attention to the need to TAKE ACTION in telling Members of Congress to support the childcare and early learning system in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R.6201) . This is easily done on the www.childcareaware.org website under the heading TAKE ACTION. It is imperative that everyone RAISE THEIR VOICE to ensure that child care providers are protected from economic crisis and closure, and help provide continuity of care for children and families at this time. It literally just takes a few minutes to do this and you cannot afford to not do it. 

ACT NOW: Tell your Members of Congress to include dedicated support for child care in their COVID-19 response.

Sincerely,

Cindy Lehnhoff, Director of the National Child Care Association 

Child Care Aware of America is committed to providing news and the latest information to help prepare families, child care providers and policymakers as the situation around the Coronavirus(COVID-19) outbreak continues to be monitored. To equip communities, CCAoA gathered resources to ensure the safety of all individuals. This particular article will focus on how Coronavirus impacts child care providers and CCR&Rs.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, human Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that commonly cause mild to moderate illnesses like the common cold. Almost everyone gets infected with one of these viruses at some point in their lives, and most of the time the illness lasts for a short amount of time. 

A new human Coronavirus, called the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), was discovered in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019. Symptoms are similar to the flu and can include: 

-Fever
-Cough
-Shortness of breath
-Body aches
-Tiredness
-Sore throat
-Headache
-Diarrhea
-Pneumonia

The CDC recommends protecting yourself and the children in your care by taking some basic precautions:

-Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
-Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
-Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
-Stay home when you are sick.
-Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
-Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

For child care providers, that means staying vigilant about hand hygiene and keeping a close eye on children and staff who are showing signs of illness. Daily health checks are a great way for providers to take a few moments to notice how each child is looking, feeling and acting when they first arrive. That will make it easier to notice if the child’s behavior or symptoms change throughout the day.

In the long run, it is important for child care programs to have a plan for dealing with disease outbreaks. If you don’t already have a workplace emergency plan in place, now is the time to get moving. You want to make sure you and your staff are prepared for any type of emergency.

Thank you so much to Child Care Aware for providing up-to-date information. For more, please visit: https://info.childcareaware.org/coronavirus-updates. 

At the National Child Care Association we know:

* YOU need more funding in your child care centers to ensure your ability to deliver quality care and education to young children

* YOU need to have a say in what rules and regulations are put into place that affect your ability to balance a reputable and sustainable business model

* YOU want to be part of a unified voice to bring about positive changes for all the hard working people in early care and education 

We also know you have limited time to be your own VOICE so let us work for you and with you!  

If you’re already a member we thank you and promise to continue to work for you. Check and see if your membership is still active HERE.

If you need to renew, want to refer a colleague or join please click HERE.

Only $30/Annually – Help Us Be The Voice For YOU!

YOUR annual membership fee helps give all licensed private child care providers and educators a much needed VOICE in Washington, D.C.

Coming soon:
* A new and more informative NCCA Website
* Professional Development Opportunities
* Annual D.C. Advocacy Conference

I presented this past weekend at the South Carolina Early Childhood Education Annual Conference. We met some amazing people who are ready to be the voice of children through advocacy. If you have an opportunity for me to present about how the National Child Care Association is working for childcare educators and facilities, please contact us.

Also, listen to what Tiffany has to say about her time as an educator involved in early childcare and how important it is to get involved. While you’re there, please be sure to follow us on Instagram.

Cindy Lehnhoff

Hello valued NCCA member:

Let me introduce myself. My name is Cindy Lehnhoff and I am your new Director of the NCCA. I have 36 years of experience as a provider of early care and education. I am also a former Board Member of the NCCA. Additionally I have served on the NECPA Board for 15+ years. In case you have not heard NCCA has joined the NECPA family as the advocacy and lobby arm of the overall organization which also includes the NAC and CCP Credentials. Our team is working diligently to move NCCA into an organization that brings meaningful and consistent representation for you in Washington D.C. As a member of NCCA you have a voice in government that is asking our US Legislators to support bills that improve the lives of children, families, and early care and education professionals like yourself.

We are also in the process of updating our website, www.nccanet.org, to include newsletters that keep you informed about our activities on your behalf and present professional development opportunities for you. You can also look forward to hearing from us periodically by email.