Next Wednesday, April 8th Groundwork is partnering with PCSAO, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, and Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio to shine a light on efforts to support children and families during Child Abuse Prevention Month. We hope you will join us on Wednesday by wearing blue and posting a picture on social media with #OhioWearsBlue (check out our social media toolkit here for a few sample posts) to help raise awareness. We’ll also be hosting a webinar at 1 PM on Wednesday to talk about the challenges families and providers are facing in their efforts to reduce child abuse and neglect in Ohio in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Participants will hear from national and local experts about the impact we’re seeing on rates of abuse and neglect and brainstorm ways providers and policymakers can continue supporting and engaging with families during the stay-at-home order. Register for the webinar here.
The 2020 Census will decide how much funding our communities will receive for the next decade, meaning that a baby born today will be well into elementary school when the next Census comes around. This child may need access to programs such as child care, home visiting, early intervention, public education, housing assistance, food assistance, transportation, health care, and so much more over the next ten years. The Census is critical to making sure Ohio receives the funding we need to support children and families. Even though you may not be seeing the families you work with regularly during this time, we hope you will use our new Census toolkit (which includes kids' activities, sample emails, social media posts, and more) to encourage them to fill out the survey. It has never been easier for families to respond on their own, whether online, over the phone or by mail—all without having to meet a census taker.
Child Care Programs: Share Your Story with Us
Groundwork Ohio is participating in conversations at both the state and national levels to provide leaders with insights and solutions to address the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on child care providers. It is important for us to gather the stories of child care providers from all corners of the state so that we can not only share your experiences in our conversations but also amplify your voices in work over the days, weeks, and months to come.
If you are a child care provider in Ohio--whether you're from a family child care or center-based program and whether you've closed or are providing pandemic care--we hope you will fill out our brief survey to share how your program has been impacted by the recent pandemic.
TODAY: Pandemic Child Care Provider Discussion Forum
Join us for an informational webinar today from 1-2 PM facilitated by OACCP with support from Dayton Preschool Promise/Learn to Earn Dayton, Groundwork Ohio, Ohio AEYC, OCCRRA, Southwest Ohio AEYC and others. This webinar is geared toward center-based and family child care providers who are operating pandemic child care programs.
A panel of pandemic child care providers will share their insights on:
Administrative procedures
Staffing challenges and strategies
Best practices in cleaning and sanitation
Additional challenges and opportunities
Resources for Providers and Families
Join us for an informational webinar on Friday, March 27th from 1-2 PM with Dayton
We know there is a lot of information and resources swirling around right now and it may feel overwhelming to some. This is why we created two pages to centralize these resources for providers and families to include background information on COVID-19, financial assistance, grant opportunities, and activities for young children. We will regularly update both these pages as we receive more information.
We are currently working on developing resources for all early childhood related programs and hope to have this information posted within the coming weeks.
Do you have a resource that you would like us to list on our page? Please contact Julia Jackels at jjackels@groundworkohio.org to share your resource.
