You're Invited: Join Ohio Families at Groundwork's Family Celebration!
At Groundwork Ohio, we believe families, parents, and caregivers with young children deserve to be respected, valued, heard…and celebrated!
Join Ohio families, early childhood professionals, advocates, community leaders, and policymakers outside the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 12:30PM EST for Groundwork Ohio’s Family Celebration—a kid-friendly celebration of families with infants, toddlers, and preschool age children.
At our Family Celebration you’ll join hundreds of Ohioans from across the state to show your support for families with young children. You'll also cheer on members of our Family Action Network, who are coming to the Ohio Statehouse to share their stories with state legislators!
We're Hiring: Director of the Center for Family Voice at Groundwork Ohio
Groundwork Ohio is seeking applicants to join our growing team as the Director of the Center for Family Voice!
The Center for Family Voice at Groundwork Ohio is dedicated to authentically engaging Ohio parents and families with young children in the policies and practices that impact the healthy development of their children. The Director of the Center for Family Voice will oversee Center activities and drive the Center’s work to elevate the voices of families with young children in early childhood policy and advocacy to achieve programmatic, policy, and practice changes at local, regional, and state levels.
Prospective applicants ready to collaborate with an awesome and highly effective team of professionals are encouraged to apply by Monday, April 4, 2022. Check out the job description for more information on this exciting new role and how to apply!
Franklin County Leaders Announce Historic Investment in Child Care
On Thursday, the Franklin County Board of Commissioners announced a historic new $22 million investment in quality child care, called Franklin County RISE. In partnership with Action for Children, the Commissioners are allocating funds from the federal American Rescue Plan to help families and child care providers by increasing access to affordable care, offering support to child care providers, and ensuring every child has access to quality early learning opportunities.
Groundwork Ohio applauds the Franklin County Board of Commissioners for making this major investment in quality child care and our youngest children.
Groundwork is also proud to partner with the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the County Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAO) to support the CCAO/NACoRF PN-3 Learning Community. The Learning Community convenes county commissioners throughout Ohio – including Franklin County Commissioner Erica C. Crawley – to learn more about and lean into issues that affect infants and toddlers, including access to quality child care.
We look forward to continuing to work with county commissioners across the state to support the healthy development of Ohio's youngest children!
New Blog: The Power of Data in Laying the Groundwork for Ohio's Children
This week, following the release of Groundwork's Early Childhood Dashboard Preview, we published the first in a blog series that will further explore the data and key takeaways of our Dashboard Preview. In the blog, Reem Aly, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer at Groundwork Ohio, shares why data is a crucial element in elevating the needs of Ohio's youngest children and holding policymakers and other leaders accountable to meeting their needs.
Over the next year, Groundwork Ohio is gathering feedback on our Dashboard Preview to inform the development of our comprehensive, first-of-its-kind 2023 Dashboard. As part of this process, Groundwork is engaging early childhood experts, families, community organizations, providers, and other early childhood stakeholders like you.
We want to hear from you! Groundwork Ohio invites you to explore our Early Childhood Dashboard Preview and share your feedback.
Farewell and Congratulations to Groundwork Ohio's Melissa Bacon!
This week we're saying farewell to Melissa Bacon, Groundwork Ohio's Policy & Advocacy Director. While we are sad to see Melissa go, we congratulate her on her new role at the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services!
If you'd like to stay connected with Melissa, you can contact her on LinkedIn. If you have a Groundwork Ohio request and aren't sure whom to contact, you can email our team at info@groundworkohio.org.
Small Business Owners Support Increasing Access to Quality Child Care
Child care has been a persistent challenge for small businesses, affecting both child care providers and small businesses in other sectors whose employees rely on child care to participate in the workforce.
As a new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices shows, small business owners are acutely aware that their employees need access to affordable, quality child care to be able to do their jobs—and they’d like to help them.
According to a national survey of small business owners conducted by 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, more than half of small business owners said they or their employees faced child care challenges during the pandemic. The vast majority of small businesses owners surveyed—80%—said they support Congress taking action to increase access to affordable child care.
Want to increase your impact? Share this message with family, friends, and colleagues now!