This story was first published EdNC.org.
Unlike North Carolina’s K-12 schools and community colleges, child care programs are not integrated under the public system. This makes it difficult for early childhood programs to obtain funding and coordinate recovery from disasters like Hurricane Helen, with short- and long-term impacts on children, families, and communities.
The longer it takes young learners to return to their primary care and learning environment, the longer it will take their families to resume normal work schedules. Young children thrive on that regularity. their healthy growth At this critical time, we rely on trusting and caring relationships with our caregivers and educators.
The lack of a unified public system for early care and learning leaves local, state, and national organizations, as well as individuals in Western North Carolina’s communities, responsible for addressing the short-term needs and long-term recovery of early childhood communities. We provide resources and methods to help you cope. .
Here are some of the models, strategies, and resources that support the recovery of early childhood, family, and child care programs in Western North Carolina.
Resumption without water, normal requirements
The state has eased child care licensing requirements for affected counties. Remedy law and Gov. Roy Cooper’s Oct. 9 presidential order.
A compromised program or a program that cannot access services is operating as follows: Certified childcare consultant At the request of the Department of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE), we will develop an emergency plan to reopen without meeting normal requirements but keep children safe.
Buncombe County has a program underway on how to open up the county without access to potable water. A large center with a large kitchen also allows you to use boiling water. In smaller centers and home-based programs, providers use bottled water for hand washing and drinking.
And since the end of October, FEMA and the National Guard have been providing drinking water to licensed programs in the county, said child care resource director Jenny Vial. Buncombe Partnership for Children.
Vial said about a third of the county’s programs have restarted. Another third was scheduled to open by the end of October. The program is developing an emergency plan that will be reviewed by local environmental health staff. If the plan is approved, child care consultants will allow the program to restart, Viall said.
“We’re seeing a lot of creative solutions,” Vial says.
The water came through pallet donations from local residents and businesses. One center has come up with a way to connect large containers of water to pipes so they can use sinks. Most people throw away their water bottles in the dispenser.
She said resources are needed for future emergencies, including plans to ensure child care centers can reopen after disasters so families can rebuild.
“Early childhood education is an important part of our infrastructure,” Vial said. “We want to be seen as educators, and as much as we are educators, we are also an essential service.”
Regarding reopening of school buildings
Hurricane Helen destroyed Burke County’s two largest child care centers, forcing approximately 250 children from their learning environments and preventing their parents from working. In Helen’s weeks, Burke County Public Schools was able to: provide classroom space Approximately 170 students on campus at Salem Elementary School and Oak Hill Elementary School are eligible.
There’s one reason burke county public schools Our ability to assist so quickly was due to the strength of our relationships with the district. Burke County Smart Starta nonprofit organization that supports licensed child care programs and early childhood development.
Burke County Smart Start works with DCDEE licensing consultants to identify schools whose school environments do not meet standards for serving infants and young children, but which are eligible under a temporary license without some of the normal regulatory requirements. We have decided that we can accept children over the age of 3. A local church plans to provide classroom space to evacuated young children.
The child care program has a 90-day memorandum of understanding with the school district, during which time the school district will not charge rent or utilities. The program purchases food from the district through the federation for children to eat in the cafeteria. Community qualification regulations program.
Emergency childcare volunteer dispatch
National emergency childcare network is a volunteer force vetted and trained to respond to child care emergencies. The network sends volunteers to Western North Carolina to help families with their short-term child care needs.
“We want to be the 911 for child care,” said Silke Knebel, the organization’s founder and CEO who lives in Durham. He built a model for everyday emergencies in North Carolina and has since expanded it across the country.
The network provides short-term care, such as a few hours of care while displaced families complete paperwork, work, and cleaning up, and additional support as child care programs, schools, and other organizations reopen without a parent. Volunteers are dispatched to respond to needs. The usual staff.
National support through Smart Start
legislative body assigned The second Helen relief package, announced on October 24, includes $10 million to rebuild child care centers. The funds will be allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services and disbursed to affected child care centers and family child care facilities through local Smart Start partnerships.
of committee report It states that the funds should be used “to support the reopening and maintenance of operations, including but not limited to cleaning, repairs, and relocation.”
“Western Smart Start local partnership from the North Carolina General Assembly to provide critical support to the unsung heroes, dedicated child care providers and teachers affected by Hurricane Helen. We are deeply grateful for this $10 million donation.” said Chairman Amy Cubbage. North Carolina Children’s Partnership (NCPC)in an emailed statement.
The bill directs NCPC, the statewide umbrella organization for Smart Start, to provide funding to local partnerships in affected communities.
“This funding is critical to restoring services and ensuring that children and families can return to stable early care and education environments,” Mr Cubbage said. “Working with many others in the private and public sectors, we can rebuild and strengthen our communities.”
Governor Roy Cooper’s relief packageannounced the day before the state bill, Contains $36 million for child care relief.
The region-wide Smart Start Partnership has been coordinating needs assessments, distribution of donations, and connecting providers with funding and temporary locations.
Partnership for Young Children of Iredell County receives donations from across the state and uses a mobile resource van to deliver materials, equipment and furniture to child care programs. The organization is coordinating with Wilkes Community Partnership for Children Assess needs and deliver supplies throughout the region. Harnett County Partnership for Children serves as a donation center for the eastern part of the state, and donations are delivered to the Iredell Partnership.
Local chambers pay tuition fees
In early October, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation Allocate $125,000 The money will be used to pay tuition at Watauga County’s licensed child care programs. The funds will be distributed to centers and family foster homes by local Smart Start partner Watauga County Children’s Council.
“Our foundation board felt this was a direct way to ensure stability for the critical early childhood industry while also freeing up cash for families to cover other storm-related expenses,” Boone said. said David Jackson, president and CEO of the District Chamber of Commerce. .
disaster relief grants and funds
Child care nonprofits, including the Smart Start Partnership, are eligible to apply for grants from: Emergency disaster response fund (EDRF) is managed by the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC).
These $25,000 grants are awarded on a regular basis and are supposed to go towards “frontline human service needs,” according to the CFWNC website. This includes nonprofit early care and learning programs.
There is also specific financial assistance available to home health care providers. homemadea national collaboration of funders committed to improving the quality and access of home-based child care, provides grants starting at $800 to home-based educators who operated or provided child care as of mid-2018. A $150,000 fund was established to provide direct payments of $1,500. September. Eligible caregivers include:
- Licensed family child care facility.
- Licensed center of residence.
- Family, friends, and neighborhood caregivers.
- Grandparents who provide regular childcare.
Providers and caregivers are encouraged to work with Smart Start of Transylvania County, El Telar, Family Childcare and Center Enrichment Foundation (also needs assessment For home-based providers in Western North Carolina). For more information about Home Grown Fund, please email EmergencyFund@homegrownchildcare.org.
Save the Children Fund, childcare recovery training
Save the Children, a global humanitarian nonprofit organization, has specialized in early childhood disaster recovery since Hurricane Katrina. The organization is fundraising Provide support to local families, child care providers, and local early childhood organizations.
“Our North Star is really about mitigating that learning loss,” said Militza Mesquita, the group’s senior adviser for emergency education. “Children of Hurricane Katrina. They did longitudinal studies, but they never recovered educationally.”
Nonprofit spent $25,000 project camp $20,000 for emergency childcare. child life disaster relief $15,000 for psychosocial programs at shelters Horizons at Carolina Day School.
Mesquita said the organization is evaluating hundreds of programs with varying needs across the region. The organization provides a train-the-trainer program for early childhood leaders, including licensed consultants, to assist child care programs through the recovery process. How to determine relief Funding Eligibility and Access to Funds.
Their priority is for-profit centers and home-based providers who don’t qualify for FEMA assistance and often don’t have a consistent flow of funding.
“After a disaster, 10 to 15 percent of child care centers will be permanently closed, and that means children without seats, children without quality care, and economically. It just creates a downward spiral educationally for these kids,” Mesquita said. “Our for-profit child care centers are the most vulnerable during disasters because they don’t have as many resources as they think. So we’re really working together to figure out where to go.”
Additionally, the organization provides training to support health care providers and early childhood leaders in psychosocial recovery and how best to support the children they serve in the coming months and years. Provide.
“What we do know is we’re going to be there for the long term,” Mesquita said.
