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Issue 13—January/February 1997

Community Based Child Care Planning

Contents

up arrowInvolving Communities in Planning for Child Care Services

Child care is local. The neighborhoods where children and families live and work are where child care services are delivered. Community involvement in planning for child care services is essential to ensure that healthy, safe, and affordable care that meets the needs of all children and families is available. To best inform the policy, planning, and funding decisions that are being made by states, it is important to include parents, child care providers, business, and community leaders to assure that the needs of children and families are being adequately addressed.

Under the Child Care and Development Fund, states are encouraged to serve families through a single, integrated child care system. All states must submit a comprehensive child care plan by July 1, 1997. Involving community partners in the state planning process will help to develop services that are family-centered, flexible, comprehensive, and tailored to meet family and community needs.

Community based child care planning identifies specific needs and tailors solutions to the resources available to that community. Regardless of geographic, population, and economic factors, successful community based planning initiatives begin with a shared commitment to meeting the child care needs of families. Successful planning efforts also involve the collaboration of public, private, and other family and community resources to meet those needs. Such community based efforts are a basis for informing state level decision making processes.

At the local level, communities need accurate information to base their efforts on. Community based child care planning efforts should focus on assessing community needs and fostering opportunities to link with others in a broadly based network of support for child care services.

A community needs assessment is a way to systematically collect data so that future actions are based on the best available, most accurate information. It is a dynamic activity that helps produce a "map" of the communities' current situation, its strengths, needs, and possible directions for desired improvements. It provides a foundation for tracking the effectiveness of strategies and actions taken to address locally identified needs. It is also an inclusive and participatory process for establishing linkages with new partners, building local capacity to meet the needs of families, and gaining a shared commitment to support the goals of the community.

This issue of the Child Care Bulletin highlights a variety of approaches and describes efforts to encourage the involvement of parents, providers, local leaders, businesses, and others in community based planning that addresses the child care needs of families. It seeks to provide information that states and communities can use in developing their own responses to the child care needs of the children and families they serve.

up arrowCommunity Mobilization Strategies Support Children and Families

Mobilizing individuals, families, and communities is essential to creating and sustaining the supports that address the needs of children and families. Community mobilization involves convening diverse stakeholders to design and implement an agenda for change. It includes public awareness efforts along with engaging the public in an ongoing process of problem-solving to develop visions, goals, and strategies.

As communities and states begin the process of implementing change with community mobilization, these principles for delivering services should be considered:

  • Family-centered services are community delivered, and include families as partners in planning and implementing services.
  • Services are culturally competent; programs are responsive to the needs of individuals with disabilities and of diverse populations.
  • Services focus on prevention, early intervention, and strengthening families.
  • Services are flexible, with accountability for results based on goals.
  • Public, private, and community services are coordinated, integrated, and collaboratively delivered.
  • Quality services are delivered by well-trained staff.
  • Services are cost-effective.

These principles are summarized from a new book from the Families and Work Institute, Community Mobilization: Strategies to Support Young Children and Their Families. The book contains descriptions of initiatives in states and communities. It provides specific examples and suggestions from individuals directly involved in community mobilization efforts.

The Families and Work Institute is also involved in a nationwide public engagement campaign to raise awareness of the importance of the first three years of life (see "Early Childhood Public Awareness Campaign," Child Care Bulletin, March/April 1996). The campaign will utilize national media and outreach efforts to the public, policymakers, business leaders, national organizations, and state and local leaders to help mobilize communities to improve the lives of families with young children.

Community Mobilization: Strategies to Support Young Children and Their Families by Amy Laura Dombro, Nina Sazer O'Donnell, Ellen Galinsky, Sarah Gilkeson Melcher, and Abby Farber is available from the Families and Work Institute, 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, (212) 465-2044, fax: (212) 465-8637, or through their web site at: http://www.familiesandwork.org

up arrowChildren's Cabinet Coordinates Support for Families

The Children's Cabinet, Inc. of Nevada is a nonprofit organization that addresses the needs of children and their families through coordinating government services and developing private resources.

One major activity was to convene a Child Care and Economic Diversification Summit in October 1996. The summit brought together key leaders in business, government, economic development, public policy, and child care education to examine some innovative approaches and projects in other areas of the country. The summit was a starting point for involving individuals and organizations in statewide discussions that will bring about sustained changes in service delivery systems. A second summit is planned for spring 1997.

The Children's Cabinet has focused its efforts on forming and strengthening business partnerships; increasing quality, availability, and affordability of child care; and supporting and strengthening 21 Family Resource Centers statewide. The resource centers were established in 1995 by the state legislature to assist families in at-risk neighborhoods with accessing services. Each center is governed by a Neighborhood Council of local parents who tailor a Neighborhood Action Plan of services most needed in the community. Services typically include parenting education, child care resource and referral, family counseling, support groups, child abuse/neglect prevention, recreational programs, and youth development activities.

For more information, contact The Children's Cabinet, Inc., at: (702) 856-6200 or e-mail at: estern@childrenscabinet.org

up arrowInvolving the Private Sector in Planning for Child Care Systems
by Phyllis Jack Moore

In response to the changing needs of working families and the increased recognition that positive work and family policies are a sound business investment, the Child Care Work and Family Clearinghouse of the Texas Workforce Commission has sponsored a series of seven regional work/family and community planning conferences. These were held from August 1996 through February 1997 to promote employer leadership on work and family issues, including child care, elder care, and community resource development.

The conference series has promoted an informed awareness of dependent care needs. As a result, employers and community leaders are forming local coalitions to share information, pool resources, and establish a plan of action to address these needs. Work and Family Clearinghouse grants of $5,000 have been awarded to the sites of Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Tyler, and Lubbock, Texas to aid in establishing employer coalitions. Each site organized a conference based on specific community concerns and involved local business and community leaders in the planning process.

Follow-up activities are important in providing strategies to build employer coalitions and to support identified needs. Up to four of the seven cities that held conferences will be awarded $25,000 to initiate or support the recently created employer-led coalitions. These pilot sites will promote understanding of the issues and support for local workforce dependent care services.

Further support for developing coalitions is provided by three well established employer coalitions: Corporate Champions of Fort Worth, Corporate Hands of Houston, and the Corporate Child Care Collaborative of San Antonio. These groups will be a support network to new groups, recommend organizational strategies and activities, and provide insight based on their own experiences. The Child Care Work and Family Clearinghouse has provided each of these established coalitions with $50,000 grants to support this effort. In addition, the coalitions and a community team are invited to help plan a statewide economic planning conference scheduled for 1998.

Dependent care needs significantly impact the current as well as the future workforce. The ability to address the issues collaboratively, utilizing the talents of local business and community leaders, is essential. Support provided by community employer coalitions can play a major role in assisting with continued economic growth for employers and improved quality of life for working families.

Phyllis Jack-Moore is a Work/Family Strategist in Austin Texas. For more information, contact Phyllis at: (512) 329-9078, or Carol McDaniel, Director, Child Care Work & Family Clearinghouse, Texas Workforce Commission, at: (512) 936-3228, or access their web site through: http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ select Employer Dependent Care Services

up arrowCommunity Meetings Help Illinois with Redesigning Child Care by Michele Piel

She was one of fifteen women who braved a cold Chicago night the week before Christmas to describe how some of the changes we might make to the state child care system would affect her family. With the assistance of a language interpreter, she voiced her concerns: How would she cope with increased fees? What if she became ineligible altogether or had to wait for services? Could she make more money somehow? Although these are daunting questions for this mother of twins and full-time housekeeper at a city hotel, by the end of the evening, she was searching for solutions and generously offering to help as we deal with what she described as "complicated" work.

This parent focus group, one of three held in Illinois, marked the midpoint of a public process that began in fall 1996. The goal behind this process was to help inform decision making as we develop the child care state plan, and to "check in" with consumers and providers to explore ways to improve child care services.

The process of proactively seeking public input on improving child care service delivery began by convening three community meetings. Through lists of providers, individuals receiving subsidy payments, lists maintained by resource and referral agencies, and others in the child care field, many people were invited to attend these large community meetings. More than 300 individuals attended the Chicago community meeting.

The meetings served several purposes, but were primarily informational. Just getting the word out about the new Child Care and Development Fund, welfare reform, and changes that might be brought about in child care service delivery would have been a significant outcome. However, the community meetings also served to engage the parents, providers, and others who attended them in the substantive work that would follow.

The meeting participants were asked if they would be willing to serve on a child care planning committee, or provide their input to the committee either in writing or by telephone. From among those attending the community meetings, 45 child care practitioners, academics, researchers, and representatives of philanthropy, Head Start, and state government were appointed to the committee. The committee will make recommendations related to parent eligibility and copayments, quality enhancement and capacity building, data collection, and rates.

To develop a system that truly meets the needs of families, members of the communities being served must be involved in the planning and implementation process. Following the community meetings and a 2-day session of the planning committee, three parent focus groups were held. To encourage participation, the focus groups were held at child care centers, with an evening meal, child care services, and language interpretation provided, if needed. Input from an additional 50 parents was obtained by telephone. The findings from the parent focus groups were considered by the planning committee and will be included in the recommendations for the child care state plan.

Although the process has been intensive, a foundation of community input has helped to involve many stakeholders in the complicated implementation tasks that will remain after the plan is written and the final public hearings have been held.

To learn more, contact Michele Piel, Manager of the Child Care and Development Section of the Illinois Department of Public Aid, at: (312) 793-3610.

up arrowParents Share Perspectives at Child Care Summits

The Child Care Council of Suffolk, a resource and referral agency in a large county on Long Island, New York, works to encourage community involvement in child care planning. One of the agency's initiatives helps parents to understand and work toward improving service delivery systems in their communities. Another initiative helps to ascertain family needs within separate communities in the county.

The agency sponsors a Parent Leadership Initiative (PLI), a local level pilot project which was adapted from the Connecticut Commission for Children's statewide model. Participants learn about how government works, advocacy methods, welfare reform, and how to impact the system to create a caring community for children. Each parent develops an individual action plan. Some of the topics for action plans have included developing a "parent to parent" newsletter to be distributed in the community; interacting with other community groups to help with violence prevention; and becoming a board member of the Child Care Council.

The process of implementing the PLI brought with it several lessons:

  • A strong commitment to building community through interacting with and supporting each other helped develop committed relationships.
  • Acceptance of the group's agenda is important, even if it may not be what was originally expected.
  • In service delivery, we should not make assumptions about what parents' desires are regarding child care; we need to listen, as each voice is unique and important.
  • One way to effect systemic change is to mobilize parents to speak out on child care issues in town hall type settings or summits.

Through funding from various local foundations, child care summits are being held in several communities within the county. These summits are organized by a community based steering committee to help ascertain families' needs. The first summit was held in June 1996. Some of the speakers were graduates of the Parent Leadership Initiative. A few even said that prior to going through the leadership course, they could never speak in front of a large group. They were poised as they articulated their concerns at the summit. The next community summit is planned for spring 1997, and the process of mobilizing parents to voice their perspectives and to take an active role in addressing family needs will continue.

Janet Walerstein is the Executive Director of the Child Care Council of Suffolk, Inc. For more information, contact Janet at: (516) 462-0303.

up arrowThe Boston Inventory: Putting Child Care Quality on the Map by Jason Sachs

For the past 4 years, Associated Day Care Services and the Early Education Quality Improvement Project (EQUIP) Advisory team have used the Boston Inventory to collect data on the quantity and quality of child care in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston EQUIP is a data usage and community mobilization project funded by the AT&T Foundation in cooperation with the Families and Work Institute. Its goal is to improve quality for the estimated 25,000 children served by the city's early childhood programs. There also are EQUIP sites in West Virginia, Oregon, and Kansas City.

The components of the Boston Inventory measure supply and demand, program quality, parents' conceptions of quality, and facility assessments. A biennial provider survey captures data on program quality such as staff salaries, turnover, parent activities, computer usage, and program priorities.

Boston's EQUIP maps the distribution of child care slots and creates a visual representation of the supply and demand of care. Other maps present variables to examine added factors, such as family income, the number of single parents, and children by age groups. When the maps are overlaid, they reveal gaps in the child care services.

Using the inventory measures, the community has set benchmarks for improving services in the areas of accreditation, training, compensation, parent empowerment, and facilities. In 1996, more than 35 groups used the inventory data to plan, advocate, and bring funds into the city. These examples demonstrate the wide use of the data by the child care community:

  • Boston has received more than $2 million from the Massachusetts Department of Education's Community Partnership Grant. Inventory data are used to identify and allocate dollars to specific neighborhood clusters.
  • The United Way is leading efforts for the passage of a bond bill by the state legislature to increase revenue for facility improvement. The data revealed that more than 20 percent of child care centers had to close down for more than 3 days a year due to facility problems.
  • The data are used to bring private funds into the city. In 1996, The New England Inc. provided $50,000 to give low income children an opportunity to work with computers. Inventory data were used in the grant application to demonstrate the difference between Boston Public School's kindergarten programs and child care centers in computer usage in classrooms.

The Boston Inventory is a valuable, yet relatively inexpensive community building tool. Total costs have been less than $250,000 over a 4 year period. As the project funding by AT&T draws to an end, groups such as the Boston Enhanced Enterprise Community, the Carnegie Corporation, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, and local coalitions have purchased enough community audits and other data services to sustain the project for the next year.

In addition to gathering data and using mapping software to analyze it, the project is working to educate the public as a community of data users. One aspect of their efforts has been to train parents and providers to facilitate workshops in child care settings to discuss the quality of child care with parents. The parent facilitators help others ask questions, voice concerns, and develop strategies to address them.

This year, EQUIP will release mini-enhancement grants to leverage community change efforts. Local groups will be able to use inventory data to design projects to enhance child care.

To learn more, contact Jason Sachs, Research and Policy Director, Associated Day Care Services, at: (617) 695-0700.

up arrowChild Care Initiatives Across the Country

Hawaii: County Legislative Measures Assist Families Seeking Child Care

The Maui County Council's Child Care Subcommittee was formed in 1996 to provide recommendations for increasing the availability of affordable child care in the community. The subcommittee was comprised of council members, child care providers and advocates, and union and management representatives. They held monthly public meetings, one of which was televised by the local public access channel. Testimony was received from child care providers, parents, business leaders, and community activists, many of whom stated that the lack of affordable child care was Maui County's most pressing social and economic problem. The subcommittee researched issues by contacting child care organizations and government agencies, primarily via the Internet.

The subcommittee initiated a public education campaign. The goal was to inform the community of the mutual benefits, including improved morale and lower absenteeism, that employer-assisted child care can provide to both employees and businesses. The subcommittee members also pledged to assist in the planning of a large organization's 24-hour, onsite child care center. In addition, the subcommittee urged the reinstatement of full county funding for training programs for family child care providers, funding which had previously been cut by 50 percent.

The subcommittee's work revealed that many working families are caught in a gap. They are ineligible for existing state subsidies because their income is too high, yet their income is not high enough to enable them to send their children to a licensed provider. A new county subsidy program, aimed at meeting the needs of these families, was urged. A bill was proposed to create a property tax exemption for licensed child care providers as a means of lowering their costs. The subcommittee also recommended a zoning bill that would increase the number of children that could be cared for on any single residential lot from six to twelve, provided that the family child care setting remained in compliance with state licensing standards. All of the subcommittee's legislative recommendations were adopted or given initial approval by the full Maui County Council before the end of the Council term on January 2, 1997.

Massachusetts: Working Together to Support Inclusive Communities

As a result of the collaborative planning efforts of a diverse group of state agency representatives and parents, 13 forums on the theme of Working Together for Children and Families: Supporting Inclusive Communities were held throughout Massachusetts in fall 1996. More than 1,000 parents, providers, early interventionists, public school early childhood personnel, Head Start teachers, and others interested in supporting inclusive services participated in the forums.

The 13 child care resource and referral agencies in Massachusetts facilitated the forums. They identified parents, panelists, and case studies which would best represent the issues and composition of their communities. They grouped attendees into community based, multidisciplinary teams. The planning committee developed a prototype agenda to include a keynote address by a parent about the value of inclusion from a family's perspective. Family case studies inspired participants to think of creative strategies for inclusion. A panel discussion lead by parents and professionals addressed questions generated by the case studies and a community team building activity ended each day.

From the forum's evaluation comments, a common theme was the value of continuing the momentum generated by this opportunity to meet colleagues and to brainstorm about creative strategies. Although most of them have not been implemented, many new solutions to providing effective, inclusive community based services were proposed. The ideas ranged from consolidating funding streams to eliminate multiple placements for children who need full day care, to removing jurisdictional barriers in issues such as transporting children across school district lines.

The collaborative planning process in which the forums were developed contributed to their success. In the fall of 1995, a group of state agency representatives and parents had participated as a "state team" at a New England conference sponsored by the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NEC*TAC). The team continued to meet voluntarily, and to include others who contributed new perspectives and resources. In spring 1996, the group worked with the Administration for Children and Families in planning the Working Together forums to support inclusive child care services.

To learn more about the Working Together forums, contact Karen Sheaffer, Manager, Child Care Resources and Training, Massachusetts Office For Children, at: (617) 727-8900 ext. 111.

North Carolina: Local Initiatives Link with Statewide Planning

Initiated by North Carolina's governor, Smart Start is a public/private initiative to help all children in the state enter school healthy and ready to succeed. The initiative provides state funding to local communities to develop a comprehensive, focused approach to meeting the needs of children and families. Grants are provided to local organizations to link government, businesses, and nonprofits to develop collaborative systems and provide community based services. These partnerships bring together parents, child care providers, businesses, community leaders, agencies, and ecumenical organizations to implement locally-determined programs.

Smart Start's strength lies in a statewide infrastructure of support for outcomes, along with local accountability for the collaborations that determine the best approaches for each community in planning for child care and other services that support families. At the state level, The North Carolina Partnership for Children provides oversight and technical assistance for the local partnerships and works with the state Department of Human Resources to set statewide goals and core services. The locally administered partnerships address the needs of families in their communities within the core services framework determined on the statewide level.

Since Smart Start began in 1993, more the 154,000 children have received higher quality early education and care. More than 34,000 families have received child care subsidies, and more than 72,000 children have received early intervention and preventive health screenings.

For more information, contact the North Carolina Partnership for Children at: (919) 821-7999, or visit the web site at: http://www.smartstart-nc.org

Prairie Band Potawatomi: Coordinating Community Involvement in Child Care Programs

On the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation in Kansas, tribal government, community, parents, and staff work to provide services that reflect the shared vision of preserving community values. All serve as equal partners on various boards including the Interagency Coordinating Council, Cultural Curriculum Committee, Head Start Health Advisory Committee and Policy Council.

Programs coordinate to maximize resources from multiple funding streams. Child care services are provided through CCDBG funds. The Ben-no-tteh Wigwam (Child's House) serves 46 children and employs 16 staff at the center. The Head Start American Indian Programs Branch (AIPB) provides funding to serve 32 children and their families. The numbers of children served in these programs will increase in spring 1997 when the Early Childhood Education Center is completed as a result of funding from a HUD Community Block Grant. In addition, the Kansas Arts Commission has provided funding for two murals by local Indian artists for the center. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribal Council is the governing body for all tribal programs and provides supplemental funding for the new center.

Constant efforts to keep programs visible and community stakeholders informed serves to promote awareness, cooperation, and involvement. One collaborative effort that serves this purpose is the Health Fair that provides screenings and other services by the Indian Health Clinic, Haskell Dental Clinic, Public Health Clinic, and staff from Part H, Child Care, Head Start, Early Childhood-Special Education, and the Parents As Teachers programs.

Community partners support child care services in many ways, including providing training assistance and serving on oversight and coordinating committees. Parents volunteer in child care and Head Start classrooms and senior citizens make shirts and shawls for all children in the programs.

The following are some other examples of collaborations that support child care in the Prairie Band Potawatomi community.

Parent Outreach

In August 1995, a video and book were developed of stories from the Potawatomi people as read by several grandmothers in English and Potawatomi, with illustrations by local tribal artists. The book and video are given to parents of newborns as a project to promote community awareness of the early childhood programs, cultural appreciation, storytelling, and the importance of reading to children. Funding was provided by a grant from the Part H Infant and Toddler Program.

The Traditional Parenting program builds on the strengths of parents as native people. Respected and knowledgeable community members facilitate discussions of traditional ways of parenting and incorporate education in developmentally appropriate practices.

Inclusive Services

Through a cooperative agreement with the school system, an Early Childhood-Special Education Teacher works with Head Start classrooms. The agreement includes supportive services such as speech, physical and occupational services onsite, as specified in the Individual Education Plans. Children under three that have, or are at risk of having, developmental delays are provided services through a Part H Infant and Toddler program.

For more information, contact Jackie Mitchell, Director of Early Childhood Programs for the Prairie Band Potawatomi, at: (913) 966-2527, or e-mail at: Mjackie103@aol.com

up arrowCommunity Partners Plan for School-Age Child Care

Child Care, Inc. (CCI), a child care resource and referral agency, conducted a study of school-age care in New York City. The findings showed that even with the limited resources available, there were some opportunities for expansion being missed. There was no mechanism for bringing together the diverse service providers among the schools and the community to expand school-age services with regard to times available, number of children, or quality of programs. The Community Partners Project seeks to address that need as part of CCI's school-age action agenda.

The Partners Project builds on local expertise and engages new partners in school-age care. Working within a community begins with outreach to explore interest and opportunities for expanding school-age services, and to identify potential leadership and new partners. Meetings are held with school principals and superintendents, as well as parent organizations, school-age care programs, community based agencies, civic groups, elected officials, and the business community.

Phase two of the project is to hold a community partners symposium to encourage awareness of potential resources and networking. Phase three is implementing activities to support partnerships including technical assistance and training, start-up seminars, and consultation with partners on space design, program expansion, and special initiatives. In addition, CCI can offer small planning grants to support the work of the collaborations.

CCI has launched this project with financial support from the business community and from local foundations. The project receives support from the Corporate Council on Out-of-School Time, a local effort of 16 corporations, along with the American Business Collaboration (see "American Business Collaboration Leads Corporate Support," Child Care Bulletin, November/December 1995).

Copies of "School-age Child Care: An Action Agenda for New York City," are available for $5 from CCI. For more information, contact Judy Ennes, School-Age Coordinator, Child Care Inc., at: (212) 929-7604, ext. 3012.

up arrowCommunity Collaboration Serves Families who are Homeless

A little over a year ago, it was just a dream: a child care center in a homeless shelter which would provide a stable and educational environment for children while their parents found jobs, participated in training programs, or attended needed treatment services. By fall 1996, the Second Street Learning Center of the Reading-Berks Emergency Shelter had become a reality. Licensed to serve 43 children, the center is the result of broadly based collaborative community efforts in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The center is filled to capacity, serving children who live at the shelter as well as those who live elsewhere in the community. The center has an extensive waiting list, and plans to expand the facility and services are already underway.

Some of the project's first collaborating partners were the Reading School District, the local elementary school, and Kutztown University, which was already operating an after-school tutoring program for children at the shelter. The university funds two student interns and plans to use the center as a student teaching site.

A committee of community partners was convened to champion the project. They first met in December 1995 and the task of seeking funding and volunteers gained momentum.

The shelter was selected to be the 1996 recipient of the Berks County Federation of Women's Club's Federation Day Monies, an annual community fundraising event for a charitable cause. Through strong corporate support from Boscov's department store, special auctions were held which raised more than $44,000 to help fund renovations to the shelter. A local architectural firm helped with planning the renovations and donated in-kind services and paint for a three wall nature mural created by a local artist who volunteered her time. A local carpenter also volunteered many hours to help maximize the renovation funds. Additionally, the Junior League of Reading helped to furnish appropriate equipment and supplies for the center.

Further financial support from the United Way of Berks County, the City of Reading Community Development Block Grant Program, and the Dominican Sisters' Foundation's Poverty, Justice, and Peace Fund helped to hire a Child Care Director and staff. Volunteer support is provided by the Foster Grandparent program of the Berks County Office of Aging. Also, parents who are participating in the shelter's programs commit to providing two volunteer hours a week in the center.

Through these community based efforts, preschoolers in the shelter are now welcomed into a center which provides not only care and educational opportunities, but also much needed stability in their lives.

For more information, contact Modesto Fiume, Executive Director of the Reading-Berks Emergency Shelter, at: (610) 374-4696.

up arrowEcumenical Partnership Increases Supply of Child Care by Diana Jones Wilson

Since 1987, the Rural Center has worked to improve the lives of people throughout the rural areas of North Carolina, with an emphasis on low to middle income families. To address a growing need for accessible, affordable, quality child care, the center convened members of the religious community to form the state's first ecumenical partnership for children to help in developing the Church Child Care Initiative.

The initiative seeks to increase the number of church sponsored programs available to children, with an emphasis on helping children from poor families eligible for, but not currently receiving help from, Head Start and other public programs involved with child care. The advisory board for the initiative represents the leadership of 12 denominations, the Duke Endowment, Duke University School of Theology, and the N.C. Council of Churches. The initiative's technical assistance committee includes 15 agencies involved in child care.

The initiative proceeded in several stages. A statewide Church Child Care Policy Forum for religious leaders was convened. Then a workshop series for churches interested in developing child care programs was offered across the state. The next year, the Rural Center and the Duke Endowment sponsored a statewide Church Child Care Conference. It featured the release of the publication, A Child at the Door: A guidebook for starting a child care program in your church.

The initiative's ongoing technical assistance program offers training in the areas of child care services, certification and administration of programs, business finance, and partnerships with family child care homes.

Through its efforts, the Church Child Care Initiative has established a broad base of support and assistance from ecumenical leadership across North Carolina, child advocates, service providers, administrators, and policy makers to help ensure that families in the most economically distressed communities have access to child care.

Diana Jones Wilson is the Senior Policy Associate for Human Resources for the Rural Center. For more information, or to obtain a copy of A Child at the Door (available for $35), contact Diana at: (919) 250-4314, fax: (919) 250-4325, or e-mail: diwilson@MindSpring.Com

up arrowMaking It Happen . . . Atlanta's Inn for Children Provides Care During All Hours

Hospitality industry and community leaders are celebrating the opening of Atlanta's Inn for Children, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, child care center and family resource facility. It will serve 250 children and provide comprehensive family services and child development educational programs to as many as 1,000 families of downtown workers. In addition to providing child care during non-traditional hours, the center will offer parent education workshops, nutrition counseling, immunization services, and a "Get Well" facility for mildly ill children.

The idea initially arose as Rosemary Strong, a Marriott Human Resources Manager, identified an unmet need for child care services for hospitality industry employees. She contacted AmeriCare, a company specializing in employer sponsored onsite child care. She also coordinated meetings with other hotels to discuss the possibility of working together to address this need. The concept evolved and the project was officially initiated in 1993 by Central Atlanta Hospitality Childcare, Inc. (CAHCI), as a collaborative effort of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and Marriott Suites Midtown, in partnership with the Omni Hotel at CNN Center, and the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel.

Community support for the facility has been strong in several ways. Planning grants were provided by the state and the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation. Additional financial support was contributed by the Georgia Childcare Council and local foundations. Community leaders, including the mayor, became actively involved in supporting the project. The Board of Directors of CAHCI now includes the Executive Director of Atlanta Downtown Partnership, the President of Georgia State University, the Manager of Community and Government Affairs for Kaiser Permanente, and the Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA of Greater Atlanta. Fulton County Commissioner, Nancy Boxill, serves as the project's Executive Director.

The difficulty in finding quality child care during non-traditional hours is an emerging issue nationwide. The majority of child care services are designed to accommodate a five-day, 9 am to 5 pm work schedule. As the nation moves increasingly toward a service-based economy that depends on a higher proportion of shift workers, the need for child care during non-traditional hours will continue to rise. Creative solutions like Atlanta's Inn for Children will help to ensure that all children have access to quality care during the hours that their parents are at work.

For more information, contact Nancy Boxill, Executive Director of Atlanta's Inn for Children, at: (404) 320-9598.

up arrowHealthy Child Care Update: Maternal and Child Health Bureau Grants

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) is providing funds to 46 states and territories to support 3-year Health Systems Development in Child Care (HSDCC) projects. Grantees will receive $50,000 per year for the project period.

The HSDCC program's goal is the development of a common vision in states for healthy and safe child care environments through the establishment and maintenance of health care and social support systems. Each project will provide a vehicle for state and community investments in systems development, service integration, and child care capacity development. The program builds upon the national Healthy Child Care America Campaign, implemented in 1995, and a 10-step Blueprint for Action developed by the Child Care Bureau and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Several federal partners will be working with the Child Care Bureau and MCHB to provide technical assistance to the grantees.

Applicants included state departments of health, human services, child care, and educational entities, as well as national professional organizations. Proposed activities include the formation of statewide Healthy Child Care campaigns, activities focused on one or more areas in the Blueprint for Action, such as children with special health care needs, mental health services, and the training of child care providers in health and safety.

To learn more, contact M. Jane Coury, Nurse Consultant and Lead for Health and Safety in Child Care, MCHB, at: (301) 443-4566.

up arrowWhat's New at the National Child Care Information Center?

The National Child Care Information Center recently celebrated its second anniversary, and there were many things to celebrate! We have answered more than 5,000 requests. In addition, our home page on the World Wide Web has been an enormous success, with over 50,000 visitors in 1996.

Through a workgroup with national organizations, representation at regional meetings sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families and many collaborative activities, we have been able to gather a range of information for dissemination. These linkages have been the foundation for the depth of national, state and local resources we have made available to requestors.

In the future, we plan to further these activities using some new tools. An electronic database of the resources at the NCCIC is in the final stages of development. State profiles, including demographic information and contact information for a number of state agencies are being developed and will be placed on our Web site. Many new publications will soon be available, including Passages to Inclusion, a technical assistance monograph on including children with disabilities in child care.

The address for the NCCIC Home Page recently changed, and we can now be found at <http://nccic.org/>. We have made many other changes recently as well. New sections have been added, old sections have been expanded, and we have won an award!

The NCCIC Web page was awarded an Editor's Choice Award by LookSmart, a part of Reader's Digest. The award is given only to sites that meet strict standards of editorial and content quality. To view other work and family sites that meet these standards, visit the LookSmart site at <http://www.looksmart.com>.

Visitors to the HomePage can now find a section titled "Child Care Research." This section contains full text versions of recent publications. A second new section is "Internet Resources on Child Care and Welfare Reform." Links are made to a number of organizations that have collected information on child care activities in state welfare reform efforts.

The NCCIC Internet Guide is now available in full text on the NCCIC Web site. The Internet Guide includes "hot links" to all the Web sites included in the Guide. These links will be updated as necessary and new links will be added to keep the information useful. As with the other documents on the Home Page, visitors are encouraged to download the information and share it in a print format.

We welcome your comments, additions or recommendations for submissions for the NCCIC Home Page. If you have any questions or comments, please call 800/616-2242 or e-mail info@nccic.org.

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Be Sure to Watch

"I am Your Child"

April 28, 1997

An ABC Prime Time Special about the importance of the first three years of life
Part of the Early Childhood Public Engagement Campaign

To learn more, contact (212) 465-2044, x321 or visit the web site at: http://www.iamyourchild.org/

up arrowResources in Child Care

With each issue, the Child Care Bulletin highlights resources available to the child care community. We encourage providers, parents, administrators, and other readers to share knowledge of what is available so that we may pass it on to the field.

Publications

Promoting Quality Child Care: Innovations in Child Care Consumer Education
Denise Fogarty and Fran Anderson
Prepared by Child Care Aware for the Child Care Bureau, this guide examines effective child care consumer education approaches. It outlines 8 key principles of successful programs and provides practical information for replicating multimedia public awareness efforts and examples of consumer education resources, brochures, posters, public service announcements, and other materials. (Available summer 1997 from the National Child Care Information Center at: (800) 616-2242).
 
1997 Consumer's Resource Handbook
United States Office of Consumer Affairs
A book that contains tips on buying products and services, along with contact information for consumer organizations, corporations, and government agencies at various levels. (Single copies are available free by writing: Handbook, U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, 750 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006-4607).
 
"I Wish the Kids Didn't Watch So Much TV" Out-of-School Time in Three Low Income Communities
B. Miller, S. O'Connor, S. Sirignano, and P. Joshi
A new report from the School-Age Child Care Project describes findings from a study of children's out-of-school time. It examines the lack of resources for families in low-income communities, the dominant presence of television, and parents' efforts to find enriching activities for children. It includes how child care needs relate to decisions about employment and care arrangements, along with recommendations for increasing options. (An executive summary and full report are both available. For more information, contact: Steffi Peck, Publications Coordinator, SACC-Project, Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College, at: (617) 283-2525).
 
1996 Child Care Aware Conference Report: Meeting the Needs of Low-Income Families Through Family Child Care Professional Development and Consumer Education
Written by Fran Anderson for Child Care Aware
The 1996 conference brought together child care professionals to discuss innovations and new strategies from communities across the country that have been implementing Child Care Aware initiatives. The focus of the conference was on meeting the needs of low-income families, professional development for family child care providers, and consumer education. The conference report includes examples of strategies, lessons learned, and contacts for more information. (Available for $10 from Child Care Aware, 2116 Campus Drive, SE, Rochester, MN 55904, or call: (507) 287-2220).
 
Marketing Matters: Building an Effective Communications Program
Prepared by Advanced Resource Technologies, Inc., with assistance from Oglivy Adams &Rinehart for The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect
This book is a resource and reference tool for designing effective communications programs to achieve specific goals. Created to assist individuals and organizations with enhancing collaboration efforts, developing effective materials, and working with the media, the book provides worksheets and examples from community based public education programs that combine child maltreatment and substance abuse messages. (Free publication available from the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect at: (800) 394-3366 or send e-mail to: nccanch@calib.com.Visit the clearinghouse web site at: http://www.calib.com/nccanch/).