CERCLE to Host Mayoral Primary Forum

If you live or work in New Haven, you might be interested in an upcoming mayoral primary forum, featuring the two Democratic candidates - Mayor Toni Harp and Democratic challenger, Justin Elicker. The conversation for the evening will focus on the future of early childhood care and education for New Haven's children and families of color.

The event will take place on Wednesday, August 28, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at All Our Kin, 414A Chapel Street, New Haven. Light refreshments will be served and Spanish translation is available. Child care will be provided at Hope Child Development Center at 81 Olive Street in New Haven. Space is limited. To RSVP, please call 203-865-4673 by Tuesday, August 27. 

The event is hosted by CERCLE, in partnership with HOPE for New Haven, All Our Kin, CT Early Childhood Alliance, and CSEA-SEIU Local 2001.

Backlogs Continue for Care4Kids

Care4Kids is now processing new applications from week of May 20-28. The Alliance is looking for stories from parents and providers about the impacts of these delays. Do you know a family who has chosen not to enroll because they can't afford tuition until their Care4Kids is approved? Please call 860-819-3647.

OEC Roster Finalized

The OEC has finalized the OEC Roster for background checks, which included multiple rounds of development and testing, as well as "pilot testing" by several child care centers to provide feedback. Throughout the month of August, the OEC will send out invitations to prevent overloading the system.

Each licensed child care center, group child care home, family child care home, and all license-exempt child care centers and schools that receive Care 4 Kids funding will complete the roster. Facilities will only see their own secure data in the OEC Roster.

All email recipients are asked to complete OEC Roster data entry within two weeks of receiving their access link.  Instructions for each step are provided, and users may email [email protected] or call 860-500-4466 with questions.  Once completed, OEC will research its records, then report the background check status and the date by which each person listed on the OEC Roster will need a new background check.

Ongoing updates will be posted on the OEC Background Checks webpage at https://beta.ctoec.org/background-checks/.

Webinar on Perry Preschool Project

Long considered the gold standard of preschool intervention and followed for 40 years, this webinar on the Perry Preschool Project will tell you what you need to know about the Perry Preschool Project and the long-term benefits of a high-quality preschool program. If you're interested, the webinar takes place Thursday, August 29, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. To register, click HERE.