LIVESTREAM NOW on Cost and Quality of Child Care
NPR is currently livestreaming a panel discussion on cost and quality of child care, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. To watch, click HERE.
OEC Listening Tours on QIS
Jennifer Johnson, Director of the OEC Quality Improvement Division, is embarking on a listening tour regarding the development of CT’s Quality Recognition and Improvement System (QRIS). Your input is needed as a Quality Recognition and Improvement System is being developed. This system will help families and communities recognize quality early learning environments in their local communities. Most importantly they want to know:
1) How do we recognize, understand and promote quality;
2) What aspects of quality are most important to you; and
3) How do we best support early childhood community and family programs to improve quality?
Dates and Locations:
10/27/16 - 5:30 – 7 p.m. Middletown, 25 Industrial Park Road, Middletown, CT
11/10/16 - 6 – 7:30 p.m. Education Connection, 4 Mountainview Terrace, Suite 201, Danbury, CT
12/1/16 - 6 – 7:30 p.m. Torrington City Hall, 140 Main Street, 2nd Floor Auditorium, Torrington, CT
12/14/16 6 – 7:30 p.m. – All our Kin, 414A Chapel Street, Suite 100, New Haven, CT
To pre-register, click HERE.
Early Childhood Cabinet to Meet This Week
The fall meeting of the Early Childhood Cabinet will take place Friday, October 21, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Legislative Office Building, Hartford, Room 1B. Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman and OEC Acting Commissioner Linda Goodman will serve as co-chairs. Among the items on the agenda, a Care4Kids update, QRIS, ESSA, Project Launch and a chance for public comment. The full agenda can be seen HERE.
Link to "Where We Live" Child Care Discussion is Available
If you missed WNPR's "Where We Live" on Thursday morning, the link is now available. Merrill Gay, our Executive Director, was a guest, along with Linda Goodman, Acting Commissioner of the OEC, Debra Johnson, Division of Licensing Director of the OEC, Brigid Schulte, lead author of the CARE Index, and Martha Friendly, Executive Director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit in Toronto, Canada.
CHDI to Help Child Care Providers Recognize Trauma in Young Children
Armed with a $2 million federal grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Child Health and Development Institute, CHDI, will be leading an initiative to train child care providers and those who work with young children how to recognize the signs of trauma in younger children. The CT Mirror wrote an extensive article about the grant and what CHDI plans to do.
2016 ALICE Report Available
The latest edition of the Connecticut United Way's ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Report is now available and the statistics are sobering: More than 1 in 3 households (38%) in Connecticut cannot afford basic needs such as housing, child care, food, health care and transportation. ALICE households increased from 293,822 in 2007 to 361,521 in 2014, a 20 percent increase from 2007 to 2012, and then a two percent increase from 2012 to 2014. You can find the full report HERE and check out some of the ALICE interactive tools available to find out the ALICE impact in your community.
Halloween: To Candy or Not to Candy?
It's almost time for trick-or-treat and you might be considering your candy choices to hand out this year. This list ranks candy choices on a scale of 1-10 in terms of harmfulness to teeth. Or, to really save your child's teeth, consider a non-candy treat instead! These tips are also helpful, if your child does receive candy on Halloween.
Infant Mental Health Upcoming Events
The CT-AIMH 2016 Fall Conference is coming up soon! The date is Thursday, November 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Woodwinds in Branford. Breakfast and lunch will both be included. NASW CECs available. The keynote speaker will be Joshua Sparrow, M.D., DFAACAP, director of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center in the Division of Development of Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, discussing the topic: "Early Childhood Obesity and the Feeding Relationship- More than Calories in and Calories Out: Promoting Health in the First Years and Before." To register: Please visit www.ct-aimh.org or click here.
The week of October 17-21 is "Celebrate Babies Week." To celebrate, you might want to view the following FREE webinar: Advancing Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health, on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, 2-3 p.m. To register: Please click here.
HAEYC to Host Annual Bus Tour
HAEYC (Hartford Association for the Education of Young Children) will host its annual Bus Tour, with the focus on "Farm to Table," on Saturday, November 12. The pick-up and drop-off location will be Goodwin College, 1 Riverside Drive, East Hartford. The tour will include all three campus sites of Alphabet Academy, one program in New Haven and two programs in Hamden. Registration closes on October 30 and checks must be received by November 1. For more information, including cost, click HERE.
Support for the Alliance comes from of our members and our funders: The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, Connecticut Health Foundation, Children's Fund of Connecticut, Connecticut Community Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, The Fund for Greater Hartford, and The Eder Family Foundation.