This Mother’s Day, We Celebrate Moms and the Family Child Care Educators Who Support Them / Este Día de las Madres celebramos a las mamás y a las educadoras de cuidado infantil familiar que las apoyan

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This Mother’s Day, we celebrate moms like Angela Steadman. As a result of COVID-19, she has been working from home and balancing the needs of her four children–two school-age children adjusting to online learning and twin three-year-old girls–all while still going to school full-time. We also celebrate the child care providers who support them, making it possible for mothers across Connecticut to go to work knowing that their children are safe, loved, and learning. Many of these child care providers are mothers themselves, who started their child care businesses to be with their own children while caring for others’ children. 

Angela is eager for her daughters’ child care program to reopen. Tané’s Little World Daycare in New Haven, owned and operated by family child care provider Tané Trimble, is more than child care–it is a second home for the families that rely on it. At a time when Angela had little social support, Tané went above and beyond, checking in on her on the weekends and throwing elaborate birthday parties for her girls. And that support has continued even though Tané’s program is closed because of the pandemic.

Family child care provider Tané Trimble with Angela’s twins, Sky and Winter

 

“Tané has still been involved during this whole thing. A week ago, she dropped off a big arts and crafts package for us. She sends me reminders to work with my daughters on their letters and numbers. She taught me the “good morning” song so we can sing it at home. There’s so much that she’s done,” Angela said. “Still, I can’t help but think about all that my girls are missing by not being with Tané every day. I can’t wait for them to get back to child care.” 

While Tané’s program is closed, about two thirds of all family child care programs have remained open to care for the children of essential workers. When other parents stopped bringing their children to Beginning Dream Daycare in West Haven, family child care provider Paola Moore stayed open for José Gregorio because she knew he needed to continue working. She takes extra precautions to clean and sanitize her program every day, and even helped José fill out an application to receive weekly food assistance from a local mutual aid effort. 

José’s son, Abdiel

Single father José’s story reminds us that for families without a mother to celebrate on Mother’s Day, child care providers can play a particularly important role. When José enrolled his seven-month-old son Abdiel at Beginning Dream Daycare, Abdiel was suffering the trauma of his mother’s abrupt exit from his life. He cried all the time, and he didn’t want to be held. But all that began to change with Paola’s consistent, nurturing care. “My son needed a mom. She filled that need. When I met Paola, I felt this sense of peace. And that’s what she’s provided ever since–peace, trust, and patience,” José says. 

For the past twenty years,  All Our Kin has been offering resources, training, and support to hundreds of Connecticut’s licensed, home-based child care providers, like Tané and Paola. Because of this, we hear stories about the incredible work happening in family child care programs every day. But recently, we’ve heard heartbreaking stories too. Stories of family child care providers struggling to balance their economic security, health and wellbeing, and commitment to their communities. Stories of providers remaining open around the clock to care for the children of healthcare professionals, but unable to access the medical and cleaning supplies they need to operate according to CDC guidelines. And stories of providers who have been left out of the federal relief bills, or can’t pay the medical expenses when one of their own family members falls ill with COVID-19. 

Family child care provider Paola Moore with some of the children in her program

Our society’s reliance on child care has never been more clear. Now our support for child care providers needs to match our thanks and praise. Without access to child care, our frontline workers could not do their jobs. And without significant investments, child care programs will close and many families with young children will find themselves unable to return to work when the economy reopens.  

So today, as we celebrate mothers, let’s celebrate their family child care providers too. Some family child care providers are moms, some support moms, and some fill in for families without moms. All of them are essential, and they always have been. 

A special thank you to Angela Steadman and José Gregorio for being interviewed for this blog post. And our deepest gratitude to all family child care providers for all that they do. A very Happy Mother’s Day from All Our Kin!

Looking for ways to support family child care during this challenging time? Call your members of Congress and tell them that we need $50 billion in funding for the child care industry in the fourth COVID-19 stimulus bill. And, please consider making a donation to All Our Kin to support our emergency response efforts.

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Este Día de las Madres celebramos a mamás como Angela Steadman. Como resultado del COVID-19, ella ha estado trabajando desde su casa y satisfaciendo las necesidades de sus cuatro hijos –dos niños en edad escolar que se están adaptando al aprendizaje en línea y mellizas de tres años–además de estudiar a tiempo completo. También celebramos a las proveedoras de cuidado infantil que las apoyan al permitir que las madres de todo Connecticut puedan ir al trabajo sabiendo que sus hijos están seguros, son amados y están aprendiendo. Muchas de estas proveedoras de cuidado infantil son madres también que empezaron su negocio de cuidado infantil para poder estar con sus propios hijos mientras cuidaban de los hijos de otras.

Angela está ansiosa de que reabra el programa de cuidado infantil de sus hijas. El programa Tané´s Little World Daycare en New Haven, cuya propietaria y operadora es la proveedora de cuidado infantil familiar Tané Trimble, ofrece más que cuidado infantil –es un segundo hogar para las familias que dependen de él. En un momento en que Angela contaba con un apoyo social limitado, Tané hizo más de lo requerido al llamarla los fines de semana y organizar fiestas de cumpleaños glamorosas para sus niñas. Y ese apoyo ha continuado aunque el programa de Tané está cerrado debido a la pandemia.

Proveedora de cuidado infantil familiar Tané Trimble con las gemelas de Angela, Sky y Winter

 

“Tané ha seguido involucrada durante todo esto. Hace una semana, ella nos dejó un paquete grande con manualidades. Ella me envía recordatorios para que trabaje con mis hijas en sus letras y números. Ella me enseñó la canción de los “buenos días” para que podamos cantarla en casa. Es tanto lo que ella ha hecho”, dijo Angela. “Aún así, no puedo dejar de pensar en todo lo que mis hijas se están perdiendo al no estar con Tané cada día. Espero con ansias el día en que ellas regresen al programa de cuidado infantil”. 

Si bien es cierto que el programa de Tané está cerrado, cerca de las dos terceras partes de todos los programas de cuidado infantil familiar han permanecido abiertos para cuidar a los niños de los trabajadores esenciales. Cuando otros padres dejaron de traer a sus hijos al programa Beginning Dream Daycare en West Haven, la proveedora de cuidado infantil familiar Paola Moore permaneció abierta para José Gregorio porque ella sabía que él necesitaba seguir trabajando. Ella toma precauciones adicionales para limpiar y desinfectar su programa a diario y hasta ayudó a José a llenar una solicitud para recibir asistencia alimentaria semanal de un programa de ayuda mutual local.

Abdiel, el hijo de José

La historial del papá soltero José nos recuerda que, para las familias sin una madre con quien celebrar el Día de las Madres, las proveedoras de cuidado infantil pueden desempeñar un papel particularmente importante. Cuando José inscribió a su hijo de siete meses Abdiel en el Beginning Dream Daycare, Abdiel estaba sufriendo el trauma de la salida abrupta de su madre de su vida. Él lloraba todo el tiempo y no quería que lo cargaran. Pero todo eso empezó a cambiar con el cuidado consistente y amoroso de Paola. “Mi hijo necesitaba una mamá. Ella llenó ese vacío. Cuando conocí a Paola, sentí paz. Y eso es lo que ella ha brindado desde entonces –paz, confianza y paciencia”, dice José. 

Durante los últimos veinte años, All Our Kin ha estado ofreciendo recursos, capacitación y apoyo a cientos de proveedores de cuidado infantil basados en el hogar autorizados en Connecticut, como Tané y Paola. Por esto, escuchamos historias sobre el increíble trabajo que se verifica en los programas de cuidado infantil familiar cada día. Pero recientemente hemos escuchado historias devastadoras también. Historias donde las proveedoras de cuidado infantil familiar están luchando para equilibrar su seguridad económica, salud y bienestar con el compromiso con sus comunidades. Las historias de las proveedoras que permanecen abiertas día y noche para cuidar a los niños de los profesionales del cuidado de la salud pero sin poder acceder a los suministros médicos y de limpieza que necesitan para operar de conformidad con las pautas de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC, por sus siglas en inglés). Así como historias de proveedoras que han sido excluidas de las leyes de asistencia federal o que no pueden pagar los gastos médicos cuando uno de sus propios familiares contrae el COVID-19. 

Proveedora de cuidado infantil familiar, Paola Moore, con algunos de los niños en su programa

La dependencia de nuestra sociedad en el cuidado infantil nunca ha sido más clara. Ahora nuestro apoyo a las proveedoras de cuidado infantil debe coincidir con nuestro agradecimiento y elogios. Sin acceso al cuidado infantil, nuestros trabajadores de primera línea no podrían realizar sus trabajos. Y sin inversiones significativas, los programas de cuidado infantil cerrarán y muchas familias con niños pequeños se verán imposibilitadas de regresar al trabajo cuando se reabra la economía.  

Así que hoy, al celebrar a las madres, también celebremos a sus proveedoras de cuidado infantil familiar. Algunas de las proveedoras de cuidado infantil familiar son mamás, algunas apoyan a mamás y algunas son madres sustitutas para las familias sin mamás. Todas ellas son esenciales y siempre lo han sido. 

Una nota de agradecimiento especial para Angela Steadman y José Gregorio por permitir ser entrevistados para esta entrada de blog. Y nuestra profunda gratitud hacia todas las proveedoras de cuidado infantil familiar por todo lo que hacen. ¡Un muy feliz Día de las Madres de All Our Kin!

¿Está buscando maneras de apoyar al cuidado infantil familiar durante estos momentos difíciles? Llame a sus congresistas y dígales que necesitamos $50 billones en fondos para la industria del cuidado infantil en el cuarto proyecto de ley de estímulo ante el COVID-19. Y por favor considere hacer una donación a All Our Kin para apoyar nuestros esfuerzos de respuesta de emergencia.

C is for Conference! All Our Kin’s 14th Annual Family Child Care Conference Digs Deeply into the Roots of Child Development

by Ambata Kazi-Nance, Communications Fellow

Today is my favorite day of the year. Today I am in the presence of people who are changing the world. –All Our Kin Co-Founder & CEO Jessica Sager

All Our Kin’s 14^th annual Family Child Care Conference was a great success. Held at the University of Connecticut-Stamford on November 9, 2019, family child care educators from cities across Connecticut and the Bronx, staff members, and many influential early childhood education professionals came out for an inspiring and energizing day of workshops, talks, and professional networking and team building activities.

Dr. George L. Askew, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Health, Human Services and Education in Prince George’s County, Maryland, delivered the keynote speech. A leading expert on children’s health, Dr. Askew addressed the importance of building a strengths-based narrative to connect pediatricians to the policies that impact the children in their care. In addition to his role with the Office of Health, Human Services and Education, Dr. Askew is also the founder of Docs for Tots, an organization dedicated to improving children’s physical health and social, educational, and economic opportunities by fostering relationships between children’s doctors, policymakers, and stakeholders.

With the attendance of many influential stakeholders and decision makers – including Shannon Christian, Director of the Office of Child Care at the Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Beth Bye, Commissioner of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, and Louis Finney, President of the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) – family child care educators had a special opportunity to share their stories, expertise, and experience with these stakeholders through a series of listening sessions. These largely attended sessions gave educators a powerful platform to inform stakeholders of their understanding of family child care, highlight its importance, and provide a deeper understanding of what is happening within their profession.

Beth Bye

Shannon Christian

This year’s conference theme was D is for Development: How Our Work Helps Children Grow, and our diversely talented and knowledgeable workshop presenters explored a variety of thoughtful and important topics.

Alika Hope, Founder of the Ray of Hope Project, My Reflection Matters Founder Chemay Morales-James, and Maimuna Mohammed and Zipporiah Mills, Equity Specialists with Bank Street College of Education, all addressed young children’s formation of racial and ethnic identity in their workshops. Morales-James discussed the impact of institutional racism within and outside of schools on young children in her workshop, “Exploring Racial and Ethnic Identity Development During the Early Years.” Hope facilitated a workshop on identifying and healing trauma and fostering resiliency in young children. Mohammed and Mills focused on the necessity for culturally responsive teaching in their workshop, “Do Children See Color?”

Alika Hope

All Our Kin staff members and family child care educators also directed workshops. To give just one example, Education Coach Nancy Carillo presented “One Home for All Children,” a workshop on how educators can successfully integrate children with special needs into their family child care programs. Nancy created this workshop, she says, “to share with educators the benefits of including children with special needs in their programs, benefits such as helping the children develop a respect for a child whose abilities are different from theirs and learn how to offer help to others.” Reflecting on the experience of presenting at the conference, Nancy said, “I had a great experience facilitating this workshop, not only because it is a topic very close to my heart, but because educators were so excited to learn and support each other by sharing their own experiences welcoming children with special needs into their programs.”

Nancy Carrillo

Other staff-led workshops covered topics such as using wordless picture books with children from diverse language backgrounds, obtaining NAFCC accreditation, as well as workshops led by our Business Coaches that dug in to ways educators can sharpen their business skills and earning potential.

NAFCC-accredited Family Child Care Educator Evelyn Majano-Montiel and All Our Kin Education Coach Luz Martinez teamed up to co-lead a Spanish-language workshop, “Ambientes de Aprendizaje y Su Impacto,”on the impact of creating positive social environments in family child care programs. They chose this topic because they have seen the impact environment has on children’s comfort and eagerness to learn. “Environment constitutes a social world in which boys and girls grow, play and co-exist together,” Luz says. “When a planned and thought out environment is put in place, children are able to expand and develop their senses, cognition, gross and fine motor skills, physical and emotional state. Lastly, the environment can invite and stimulate a child to learn in a very natural way. ”

Evelyn Montiel

Luz Martinez

Luz enjoyed partnering with Evelyn, who she has worked with for years, and whose professional growth she has witnessed firsthand. “Evelyn had been waiting for the opportunity to be able to present a workshop with All Our Kin and this was the perfect opportunity. Evelyn is the perfect example that where there is a will there is a way and I knew she would inspire other educators not only to expand their abilities and knowledge about this topic but to participate and present workshops in the future.”

Family Child Care Educator Lizavetta Novoa-Galindo also presented in Spanish on the challenges of addressing the needs of families receiving support from child care subsidy programs like Connecticut’s Care4Kids program. Lizavetta shared her strategies for effectively communicating with families and the subsidy funding organizations.

It was a special treat for family child care educators to experience a child and educator led workshop aptly titled, “Child-Led Learning in the Forest.” Tim Dutcher, Nature Teacher at Common Ground High School, and co-presenter Miles Ambler, an elementary school student who participates in programming Common Ground offers to younger students, introduced participants to Common Ground’s forest school program, the benefits and challenges of an all-weather, all-season outdoor education, and the impact of free play and child-led learning on children’s social-emotional development. All Our Kin Outdoor Education Coach Monica Edgerton helped facilitate by providing Spanish translation. “It was a wonderful workshop with so many key takeaways. Tim is an amazing instructor both for adults and especially for children,” Monica shared. “It was great to hear first-hand from Miles his experiences learning from, exploring, and engaging with the outdoors. The trust and respect between Tim and Miles was evident.”

A highlight of the event was Family Child Care Educator Julia Susan Dioses taking the stage to speak on her journey to family child care and her most recent experience training for and receiving accreditation by the National Association for Family Child Care.

I have been a child care provider in Norwalk, Connecticut for more than 22 years and this national accreditation from NAFCC is a tremendous milestone for me. It was an amazing experience to have the opportunity to show my daily commitment to provide a safe, healthy, nurturing and learning environment to the young children in my care.

Julia ended her speech with a beautiful reflection of how the community she found within All Our Kin nurtures her personally and professionally, and how the support she receives from the organization impacts her family child care program.

Education Coaches Gaby Hernandez-Keene and Antonia Better-Wirz, and Provider Showcase Director Nilda Aponte

One of the most meaningful experiences for me through this process was developing close relationships with my daycare parents and my professional mentors. I will always be grateful to [All Our Kin Provider Showcase Director] Mrs. Nilda [Aponte], and [Education Coaches] Mrs. Antonia [Better-Wirz] and Mrs. Gaby [Hernandez-Keene] for their kind support during this process. Their help was countless: high quality training, professional consultation, mentoring one on one, and home visits. All of this to help me reach the quality standards I needed to achieve my accreditation. 

Writer Abdul-Razak Zachariah closed off the full-day event with a reading of his new picture book, The Night Is Yours, beautifully illustrated by artist Keturah A. Bobo. Zachariah’s story of a young Black girl and her father’s special nighttime hide-and-seek game provided the perfect final note on a day spent exploring the many ways we can all positively impact the futures of children through education and nurturing, compassionate care.

Abdul-Razak Zachariah

We look forward to seeing you all and many more at next year’s conference!

Many thanks to All Our Kin’s Colby Rutledge and Dana Holahan for all of their hard work putting together an amazing conference, and all staff and volunteers who assisted in making this day a success. We thank The University of Connecticut-Stamford for hosting the event, and the Seymour L. Lustman Memorial Fund for providing funding to make this year’s conference possible. We also thank photographer Jeffrey Wirz (husband of All Our Kin Education Coach Antonia Better-Wirz) for beautifully capturing so many special moments. And we extend our deepest gratitude to all the wonderful, insightful workshop presenters and speakers for sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.

Meet The New Haven Site Directors!

by Ambata Kazi-Nance, Communications Fellow

We’re thrilled to announce an exciting new leadership development at our New Haven site. When former New Haven site director Alison Wunder Stahl decided to transition to a part-time role with All Our Kin following the birth of her second child earlier this year, All Our Kin recognized a need to expand the site director role to better address the unique needs of our New Haven family child care educator network. This recognition led to the creation of a co-director partnership with veteran All Our Kin educational mentor coach Marina Rodriguez, and new addition Darrah Sipe, who comes to All Our Kin with an extensive background in social work and labor rights advocacy.

It is fitting that this advancement at our flagship New Haven site comes as we prepare to mark All Our Kin’s twentieth anniversary of partnering with family child care educators, families, and children. In these twenty years we have experienced an impactful growth. What started out as two women with a vision working with six families out of a small space in New Haven has grown into a thriving organization engaging with over 700 family child care educators across four cities in southeastern Connecticut and the Bronx borough in New York City. Of our five sites, New Haven is the oldest and largest, currently supporting over 200 family child care educators who educate and care for more than 1,200 children in the region.

Our New Haven site is in excellent hands thanks to the diverse talents and experience Marina and Darrah bring to their new roles.

Marina and Darrah speaking at “Lights, Camera, Action,” a New Haven network party for family child care educators and their families.

Marina, a New Haven native, has been affiliated with All Our Kin since its early days. She was introduced to the field of early childhood education through her son’s attendance at a Head Start program. “I was a really young mom, a teen mom,” she says, “without a real plan for my life, so I started volunteering at my son’s program every day. One of his teachers recognized my potential, and through her I started working with Head Start part-time as a parent involvement aid. That got my feet in the door and led to me taking leadership roles in their policy council team.”

From there, Marina began working with families and children enrolled in New Haven public schools. She also took on a parent educator role at the Family Resource Center at Connecticut Children’s Museum. In this capacity, Marina was professionally introduced to family child care, engaging family child care educators to come to the museum’s newly established program, Mornings at the Museum. There she met All Our Kin co-founders Janna Wagner and Jessica Sager and learned about the work they were doing to support family child care educators in New Haven. “This was in the very beginning when they were working to build a community,” she recalls. “We were running in the same ECE circles which served as an opportunity for us to collaborate.”

In 2005, Marina began to support All Our Kin through offering translation services at their first child care conference, and by filling in for educational coaches. She joined All Our Kin full time in 2013 and has served in many roles in the organization. “Toolkit, educational coaching, technical assistance…I have touched All Our Kin in all aspects,” she says. In addition to co-directing the New Haven site, Marina also serves as a mentor coach for All Our Kin’s technical assistance outreach project in Hartford, a role she will continue to serve until 2020.

Marina (fourth from left) with All Our Kin team members at All Our Kin’s Family Child Care Conference, 2005

During her time with All Our Kin, Marina also went to school to formalize her education. She completed her Child Development Associate’s (CDA) and progressed to Springfield College, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Service. Though she continued on to earn a Master of Science in education, she feels that she gained her most valuable knowledge in the field. “I surround myself with great mentors and community leaders,” she says, “and most of my wisdom and knowledge comes from them and from my experiences working with people.”

Marina describes herself as a “lifelong learner” who enjoys reading and attending professional development opportunities and community programs. “I’m always looking for dialogue,” she says, “and opportunities to learn people’s ideas and understand the thought process behind their ideas.”

Asked to describe the strengths she brings to her work, Marina credits her own accountability and her ability to hold space for and value other people, which she says comes about through her own life experiences. “I practice being present in the moment,” she says, “and approaching the work from a place where I’m going to show up authentically and be vulnerable.”

Speaking on the foundation of the organization she says: “All Our Kin comes from a place of trying to lift the voices that have been marginalized, lifting children, being equitable, being intentional in affording children an opportunity while holding up people’s experiences and perceptions, everything that makes them individual, and making children and their experiences seen in a way that their creativity can manifest itself.”

Darrah speaking with Retail Action Project activists at “Fight for $15” protest in New York City, 2014

Darrah, a Philadelphia native, joined All Our Kin in May. She comes to the organization with a background in leadership in nonprofit organizations, particularly focused on workforce and youth development. Darrah has a Master’s in Social Work which helps to inform her relationship-based approach. After moving to Connecticut earlier this year, she was quickly introduced to the organization through professional circles. Family child care was already on her radar from her previous experience working with the Retail Action Project in New York where she advocated for the needs of retail workers, many of whom were women and parents working nonstandard hours. “Access to safe, affordable child care with flexible hours was a top priority for many of our members,” Darrah says, “so I worked to connect them with child care resources and explore the benefits of family child care for families looking to enter or re-engage with the workforce.”

Darrah was also attracted to All Our Kin’s commitment to improving children’s and families lives through increasing access to high-quality, affordable care for personal reasons. “After I had my daughter,” she recalls, “I took a year off from working because child care costs were just too expensive.” When moving to Connecticut, she and her husband used All Our Kin’s services to find child care for their daughter, who is currently attending a family child care program in New Haven. Darrah says, “I benefit on a daily basis from family child care with my child being in a family child care program. Seeing my child blossoming, and how hard the provider is working, I come into the office energized to work hard so the folks who do this important work are supported.”

As a new member of All Our Kin’s mighty team of dedicated professionals, Darrah faces the challenge of adapting to a new environment and planting her own roots. Darrah sees this challenge as an opportunity for growth. “I’m using this time to learn about the community’s needs and understand All Our Kin’s history and role in the New Haven community,” she says. Echoing Marina, she asserts, “I’m striving to approach the work without making any assumptions.”

Darrah is also passionate about amplifying the voices and profiles of family child care educators. She strives to bring her workforce experience into her work with All Our Kin by bringing attention to family child care educator’s employment rights. “For educators to view themselves and embody themselves as professionals, that comes about through knowing their rights, knowing they are paid fair wages and working fair hours, and that they’re not being taken advantage of. That’s the lens I’m interested in bringing to the work. I want to center the providers in all I do because obviously we care deeply about the children and their outcomes, but if we aren’t thinking about the providers, then the outcomes won’t be there for children.”

Four months into their co-directing partnership, Darrah and Marina are working out their respective responsibilities as they go. “We’re building the plane as we fly it,” Marina states, “working together to establish ownership of roles, who takes the lead on what, and thinking strategically about how to support each other.”

Asked about the experience of adapting to a shared role with the organization, Marina says she enjoys it. “It doesn’t feel different for me,” she says. “I work really well in a team, it allows me to capitalize on people’s strengths and see my areas for growth. The dual approach is good, really innovative, and I feel it has the capacity to support the organization on so many levels due to our different talents and perspectives.”

Darrah and Marina performing in a skit about All Our Kin’s origin story at an All Our Kin all-staff meeting

Darrah adds, “I thoroughly enjoy sharing a co-directing role. I think having two people guiding the work of the site allows for more attention to be paid to each program and team member. It also allows me to focus on my set of tasks with the full confidence that I don’t have to worry about other elements of the site’s management because Marina has that covered! Our different skill sets and professional backgrounds work really well to support the work of the site.”

Marina credits this synergy with Darrah specifically. “She’s awesome,” Marina reflects. “Darrah’s skill set and personality align so well with All Our Kin’s values. I appreciate her strength, and her abilities and knowledge that show in her work and how she operates; how she adapts and navigates through intense situations. It’s a good collaboration.”

Darrah recognizes Marina’s extensive experience with All Our Kin as beneficial to her ability to adapt to the new work environment. “Marina is just fantastic,” she says, “and a real treasure. I feel very lucky to work with her so closely, and I learn from her on a daily basis. Marina’s contributions and perspective stretch me, and her background in education and coaching have deepened my understanding of All Our Kin’s work.”

When asked to dig deeper into the particular skills and strengths Marina brings to the role, Darrah states, “Marina is incredibly inclusive and committed to equity. She always wants to involve the voice of our team and educators in decisions. She is also the definition of strengths-based! I love the genuine positivity and connection that Marina brings to all interactions. She can be fun and silly to bring levity to a situation, and then easily transition to going deep and fostering reflection both from herself and others. I really value everything that she brings to the table.”

Darrah (kneeling) and Marina (second from right) with a few New Haven staff members.

The rhythm Marina and Darrah have established in such a short time perfectly reflects All Our Kin’s core value as a people-first organization. Our Chief Operating Officer Erica Phillips is impressed by how smoothly Darrah and Marina have slipped into their co-directing roles and confident for how it reflects All Our Kin’s future. “Darrah and Marina make an incredible leadership team for New Haven. They are both deeply committed to New Haven family child care educators, families, children and staff. As our first site, the New Haven community is very important to All Our Kin and I’m excited to see the impact they will achieve.”

We wish Marina and Darrah all the best of success in their new roles and like Erica, we’re excited to see what the future holds for them and for All Our Kin!

“We value you. We support you.” New Blog Post From National Women’s Law Center Features All Our Kin Staff Members

Our friends at National Women’s Law Center are spotlighting Latinx early childhood educators for Latinx Heritage Month. Their new blog post about the impactful role of Latinx educators for young children experiencing ethnic-related trauma and fear features two All Our Kin team members, Educational Coach Nancy Carillo and Provider Showcase Director Nilda Aponte. Nancy shares how culturally competent care helps families feel less isolated, and Nilda discusses some of the challenges Latinx family child care educators are facing in the current climate and the importance of building and sustaining networks of support for this community. Thank you Nilda and Nancy for your important contributions on such a relevant topic, and thank you to National Women’s Law Center for highlighting the unique needs and concerns of Latinx children, families, and early childhood educators. 

This Latinx Heritage month, we recognize and celebrate Latinx early educators. When families with young children are forced to navigate oppressive systems and threats to the safety of their families, neighbors, and communities, early educators are there to help. With nearly 4 in 5 Latino kids suffering one traumatic childhood experience, these educators spend their time singing, reading, and playing with young children, working to mitigate the effects of the stress and trauma on young children’s developing brains and making little ones feel seen and safe. They listen to parents and other family members, and they create opportunities for families to socialize and support one another. When catastrophe does strike, early educators are there to help. Following the awful ICE raids in Mississippi earlier this year, early educators cared for children when parents were detained and could not pick them up from their schools and child care programs. Early educators help to heal to their communities in the wake of fear.

Read the full blog post here.

From Our Partners, Omidyar Network: Why They Invested With All Our Kin

At All Our Kin, we are dedicated to partnering with and supporting family child care educators to create nurturing early learning environments that help prepare children to thrive in school and life. This type of work requires the support of organizations and individuals who share our vision for building better and brighter futures for all children through access to high-quality and sustainable early care and education. One of our partners, Omidyar Network, recently crafted a thoughtful statement on why they invest with us, spotlighting a family child care educator-parent relationship as just one of many examples of how our child-centered approach to education works to establish a strong foundation for young children. We thank the writers, Vinice Davis and Isabelle Hau, for this lovely reflection.

Every night before bedtime, Nevaeh tells her mother, “I want to go to Ms. Kelly’s house!” The toddler is not talking about a neighbor or family friend, but her beloved teacher. Since she was just turning one, Nevaeh has attended Debra Kelly’s home-based child care through the All Our Kin Early Head Start program in New Haven, Connecticut. There, Nevaeh thrives, listening to stories, playing with her friends, and dancing to her favorite songs.

She’s not the only one benefiting from this nurturing environment. Lakeia, Nevaeh’s mother, often lingers after drop off to talk to Ms. Kelly about her daughter’s progress and brainstorm new strategies for challenges, such as potty training. “It’s not just daycare, it’s an educational environment,” says Lakeia. “It’s like she’s kin. Like All Our Kin, she’s like kin to me. If you work together, it will create a good outcome for the child.”

Unfortunately, Nevaeh’s experience is not the norm in the US. Most parents struggle to find quality, affordable child care. Supply is scarce, parents’ knowledge about educational standards are blurry at best, and the cost is often prohibitive. Yet, as two-thirds of families in the US have both parents working, most families still need child care.

According to the National Survey of Early Care and Education, nearly 4 million caregivers currently offer care to over 7 million children from birth to age five in a home-based setting, far exceeding the number of children cared for in center-based settings (3.8 million). A disproportionate number of those children come from low-income families, who are drawn to the low cost and convenient neighborhood locations, a family-like setting, care with flexible hours, and educators who often share the families’ cultural and/or linguistic backgrounds.

Home-based child care is an essential, yet complex, part of the early education ecosystem, with many small providers, both unlicensed and licensed, most lacking access to networks of support. Given its sprawling nature, the quality of home care varies widely.

Due in part to concerns about quality, there have been fewer home-based options from which to choose. Per the National Association for Family Child Care, “the supply of licensed family child care is declining when it should be rising to meet the needs of working families and the urgency of early learning opportunities for young children.”

Demonstrating quality in home-based child care could pave the way to a future vision where cities and communities in the United States invest to create high-quality, sustainable child care programs, leading to improved outcomes at the provider, family, child, and system/policy levels.

Read the full post here.

“Family child care is more than just caring for the children, we care for the parents and families also.”

By Ambata Kazi-Nance, Communications Fellow

All Our Kin Early Head Start Family Child Care Specialist Debra Kelly and All Our Kin Early Head Start Ambassador Parent Lakeia Moore Discuss the Importance of Parents and Caregivers Working Together

A few months ago, All Our Kin had an opportunity to feature an amazing parent-educator partnership at The Bipartisan Policy Center’s national forum, “Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships: Spotlighting Early Successes Across America” in Washington D.C. The vignette featured Debra Kelly, formerly an Early Head Start (EHS) family child care educator and most recently an All Our Kin EHS Family Child Care Support Specialist, with EHS ambassador parent, Lakeia Moore. The event provided an excellent opportunity to amplify the importance of family child care in improving educational outcomes for children and its larger impact on families and communities.

We recently sat down with Debra and Lakeia to learn more about their relationship and to hear their reflections on having their stories captured in the video vignette and shown to a national audience. Read on to learn about their partnership and how the filming experience has inspired and deepened their work in service to families and children.

How long have you known and worked with each other?

Debra:  [Lakeia’s] daughter [Nevaeh] started with me when she was about one. I met her because her sister had a child in my program a couple of years earlier and she recommended me to [Lakeia]. And that’s how we became partners in working with her child.

Lakeia: I enrolled my daughter in Debra’s program through [the] All Our Kin [Early Head Start program].  [Nevaeh] was at another program before that, but the transportation was hard for me, and I wanted something that was in my community. When I visited Debra’s program, I really wanted my daughter to go there. She’s been there since she was 16 months old.

What were your first impressions of each other?

Debra: That she really cared about her child and her child’s development.

Lakeia: She was very warm and nice, and she explained things if I didn’t understand them. I liked how she treated the children and how everything was decorated with the pictures on the walls and the science area. The different parts of the room were like different adventures for the children.

Why did you choose family child care? How do you think family child care differs from child care centers?

Debra: I chose family child care in the beginning because I had a new baby at an older age. I call my daughter my “surprise package.” [When she started school,] I wanted to be more available to her. I was working in the school system and I could see where she was going to become a latchkey kid, and I didn’t want that. So I spoke with my husband about changing my career and doing family child care, and he said, “Alright, if you can do it, do it.” So I was able to be there for my daughter, who was about 7 years old at the time, and I loved it. It was a transition from preschool, because that’s what I taught for 16 years, and it gave me an opportunity to have more control of how I help children in their development outside of a formal setting. I enjoyed it and kept doing it. And my surprise package is now 20.

With family child care, you get to be able to spend more personal, quality time with the children. It’s such a smaller group of children. I think that’s one of the most important parts. When I was in the center I had 20 to 21 children, with an assistant. With family child care, you can alter your schedule to meet the needs of the child.

Lakeia: This was the first time I ever did a child care program. I usually send my children straight to preschool, but my niece was going [to Debra’s family child care program] and she really liked it so I thought, ‘why not?’ and gave it a try. I love it, it’s a big difference. The classrooms are smaller, and [the providers] can tend to each child.

How has your life and work been impacted by working with each other?

Debra: Her impact on me was knowing that she trusted me enough to be there for her child to nurture her, enhance her development, and be a trustworthy person, where she could go to work or wherever she had to go and trust that her child was safe. That trusting relationship is everything, feeling trusted makes a provider feel they are really of value to this family.

Lakeia: A very big deal, she’s more like family. I just love her, she’s wonderful.

What quality do you value most in each other?

Debra: Her strength as a parent. It takes strength to say, ‘I’m going to go forward and make things better for my family,’ and trust that [your children] can be somewhere away from you and get what they need while you provide for your family, and that’s a quality I see in her, that love, that caring, and that strength to separate and do what you need to do.

Lakeia: She really cares, it’s not just a job for her. She takes the time, with the child and with the parents also. She’s just a caring person, and you can see it and feel it. She’s all about family.

Why is it important for you to work together?

Debra: Because mom is the first teacher, and I want to have that continuity between the two of us that helps make Nevaeh feel secure and growing and developing and knowing that there’s a partnership. Being able to partner with a parent, I get to understand more of what it’s like in their family and their values for their child, and I can keep that flow going so that when the child comes in, I’m not so different. I’m what mom values. I’m what dad values. I’m a continuation.

Lakeia: Because even though Debra is the teacher, Nevaeh should be taught at home as well. It shouldn’t be you just send your child off to daycare or school and say, ‘your teacher will do it’ and that’s it. The parents have to do it also. If you work together, it will create a good outcome for the child. That’s what I believe.

 What message did you hope to get across through the video?

Debra: What I hope to come out of the interviews is that it gives a deeper perspective of what family child care providers do: the care, the love, and the expertise they put into the work they do for young children, especially infants and toddlers. It’s more than just caring for the children, we care for the parents and families also. And the uniqueness is that we’re right in the same neighborhoods as the families we service, and so we have a perspective on where they’re coming from and what their needs are and what they experience on a daily basis. That’s what I would like people to understand. It’s a lot more that we experience that people don’t see.

Lakeia: That it’s okay to send your child to daycare. A lot of people are skeptical about sending their child to daycare but I tell them, no it’s a great program, you should try it. It’s not just daycare, it’s an educational environment. With my daughter, I was having trouble potty training her, and she’s fully toilet trained now. She knows her ABCs, she knows her days of the week, her months, and her birthday. She’s more alert than my other kids at that age. She has adult conversations.

How did you feel about the video being broadcast to a live national audience at the Bipartisan Policy Center event?

Debra: It pretty much highlighted what it was like for me and [Lakeia]. Her daughter was always excited to come, and she was always excited to bring her and drop her off, and yes, [Nevaeh] does call me auntie.

Lakeia: It was wonderful, I was very happy. All Our Kin called me, and everybody told me I did great.

How has being in the video inspired your work and advocacy?

Debra: It gave me an opportunity to be on the outside and look in, because you don’t really think about the impact you’re having, you just do the best you can for the families. Seeing the vignette made me say ‘wow, I’m doing something,’ I’m doing something that I take for granted and I never had the opportunity to be on the outside and see it from that perspective. Since then, I’ve met a lot of awesome providers through All Our Kin and learned that I’m not unique in that way of caring, I’m just the one that was selected.

Lakeia: Last year, my daughter and her father, we went to Washington and talked to Congress about putting children first, putting babies first. It was so scary. We went to each floor and each office and talked to members of Congress, and I was telling them to “think babies” and one of [them] thanked me and said “I believe everything you say.” It was an amazing experience. I met people from all over, from Hawaii to Louisiana. I’m now an ambassador for All Our Kin’s Early Head Start program. I call parents to invite them to meetings or do a survey, I help clean up and decorate, or if [Early Head Start] has an event I’ll be there, sometimes babysitting or participating in the program. I’m just there to help out.

 

***

All Our Kin is honored to partner with Zero to Three in a shared mission to ensure all babies reach their full educational and developmental potential in their early years. An exciting part of our relationship with Zero to Three has been engaging with families enrolled in Early Head Start’s family child care program to participate in Strolling Thunder, an event that brings families across the nation to Washington D.C. to encourage congress members to advocate for policies that prioritize the needs of children and families. We were delighted to support Lakeia and her family’s involvement in Strolling Thunder last year.

We would like to thank Debra and Lakeia for taking time to speak with us. We thank the Bipartisan Policy Center for sharing Debra and Lakeia’s story with their audiences and for amplifying the voices of families and educators in overburdened, under-resourced communities. We also acknowledge Early Head Start and United Way of Greater New Haven for their dedication to transforming opportunities for children and families through expanding families’ access to high-quality, affordable, and sustainable child care and early education.

 

All Our Kin Honors Family Child Care Providers and the Important Work They Do for Children and Families on National Provider Appreciation Day

By Ambata Kazi-Nance, Communications Fellow

It’s not a coincidence that National Provider Appreciation Day falls the Friday before Mother’s Day. In fact, that was the intention of National Provider Appreciation Day’s organizers: to honor and celebrate child care providers, teachers, and other educators of young children. Young children’s first teachers and caregivers, after their parents and guardians, are often child care providers, trusted by families to look after their children while they work.

The best child care providers understand the importance of their role as an extension of the child’s family. They seek to provide nurturing, compassionate, loving care that mimics that of the child’s own primary caregiver. They build meaningful relationships with children and their families to ensure children feel safe and loved, and create fun and engaging child care environments that spark curiosity and allow them space to explore and thrive into early childhood.

This is the type of care we witness every day in the programs of family child care providers we support. Providers like Doris Lopez, who runs Doris Lopez Daycare in Stamford, and sees her work as a family child care provider as the fulfillment of her lifelong dream to be a teacher. Doris promotes social-emotional learning in her program, seeking to understand the complex emotions of her young learners, and talking to them to help them understand and communicate their feelings. Of early childhood education, she recognizes, “It has a lot to do with knowing how to connect with a child’s feelings. The emotions—they’re a very important factor.”

The family child care providers with whom we work embrace their role as educators of the next generation of leaders and professionals, and as such, they work together with children’s families to empower children to reach their full potential and achieve their dreams. “We have to be partners,” family child care provider Bernadette Ngoh who runs Trusted Care in West Haven notes. “I take time to listen to my parents and understand what they are dealing with,” she says. This insistence on building long-lasting relationships with parents and guardians hearkens back to Bernadette’s upbringing in Cameroon, where she says, “The children were raised by the community.”

Many family child care providers go above and beyond in the services they provide for working families by being flexible and understanding to their unique needs, such as extending their hours to earlier in the morning, or later in the evening into the night. Family child care provider Deneen Brown, owner of Mommy’s Day Care in Stamford, even arranges to pick up and drop off children in her program to assist parents dealing with lengthy work commutes. “I know they have other options for child care,” she says, “but they choose my program for their children, so I try to accommodate them.” Deneen’s compassion and understanding for the challenges working families face allows her to foster meaningful connections with families that continue on long after their children leave her program. She notes, “One of the children I used to care for is now fourteen, going into high school, and his family still talks about the care he received in my program.”

Family child care professionals provide a critically important educational need for young children, especially in Connecticut and New York City, which have some of the highest rates of educational disparities in the nation. Many families struggle to find affordable, sustainable, and high-quality child care that offers the early education young children need before entering school. By opening their homes to young children and giving them key learning experiences in the crucial early childhood years, family child care providers are improving children’s chances for success in school and life. As one family child care provider, Yanerys Aziz expressed, “For me, everything is about preparing the children. That’s golden.”

We at All Our Kin are inspired every day by the family child care providers we have the pleasure to work with. Despite the long hours they work every day, family child care providers come to our programming with enthusiasm and a joy for the work they do. We see firsthand how they love and care for the children in their programs, and bring a wealth of knowledge and wisdom into their family child care programs. Today and every day, we thank family child care providers for the incredibly valuable, necessary work they do for our youngest citizens. We applaud their passion and persistence to lay the educational foundation all children need to thrive in life.

To all family child care educators: We celebrate you!

A Lifelong Dream Comes to Fruition: Family Child Care Provider Deneen Brown’s Journey to Supporting Our Youngest Learners

By Ambata Kazi-Nance, Communications Fellow

Deneen Brown owns and operates Mommy’s Day Care, a family child care program she opened in 2007, in Norwalk, Connecticut. Deneen is the recipient of a grant from Care@Work, Care.com’s enterprise arm that provides employees of corporate clients with access to the world’s largest network of care providers for backup child and adult care and ongoing care for children, seniors, pets, and the home. Deneen was randomly selected from among the members of All Our Kin’s family child care network through a lottery program to receive $10,000 to use towards enhancing her family child care program. Deneen shares her story of how she came to family child care and how she plans to use the Care@Work grant for her program.

“My mother’s home was always a home to many, and it’s the same for me. The kids become family.”

From as early as she can remember, Deneen wanted to be a teacher. “I was always playing school with my friends,” she says, “I enjoyed applying what I learned. And that’s what I do now as a family child care educator, teaching the children what I learned.” Her introduction to family child care came from her mother, who ran her own home-based child care program. Deneen assisted her mother, and her oldest child later attended. “I loved the work,” she said. “I loved the environment, the way the children came in and took their shoes and coats off and felt so at home. My mother’s home was always a home to many, and it’s the same for me. The kids become family. After becoming a mother, family child care became a passion.” Deneen wanted to pursue child care work professionally, but began working for the UPS Corporate Office in Greenwich, Connecticut, building a career there and moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 1991 when the company relocated its headquarters.

Deneen credits the birth of her youngest child in 2004, who was born thirteen weeks premature, as the impetus to launch her own family child care program. She had returned to Connecticut in 2002 to care for her mother. While on maternity leave after giving birth to her son, Deneen cared for children in her home to supplement her income. Faced with returning to work with a newborn with special care needs, she was hesitant to enroll him in a child care center. Reflecting on the safe, loving early care and education the children in her mother’s program had received, Deneen recalled thinking, “You know what? That’s what I want to do.” Family and friends urged her to start her own business. With their support and encouragement, Deneen took the leap and began building her own family child care program.

A few years after launching Mommy’s Day Care, Deneen learned about All Our Kin’s work to support and sustain family child care professionals. At the time Deneen learned of All Our Kin, the organization had recently opened a new office serving the Stamford/Norwalk region. Eager to continue growing her knowledge and practice as an early childhood educator, Deneen enrolled in All Our Kin’s Child Development Associate (CDA) courses, taking the first step in an ongoing journey with All Our Kin.

“I feel such a sense of pride in what I do after attending All Our Kin classes. The facilitators go above and beyond to teach us and support us in our work.”

Since achieving her CDA credential, Deneen has participated in All Our Kin’s educational coaching program, through which she received one-on-one mentorship and support from an All Our Kin Education Coach to set and work towards fulfilling goals for quality enhancement. She has attended All Our Kin’s educational workshops and trainings, digging in on a wide range of topics such as: the emotional lives of toddlers; exploring nature with children; girls in books; introducing children to art and museums; and celebrating diversity through books, songs, play and the environment. Deneen says the resources and classes All Our Kin offers have had a great impact on her as a family child care educator. “I feel such a sense of pride in what I do after attending the classes,” she says. “The facilitators go above and beyond to teach us and support us in our work.” And she has engaged with peers in the All Our Kin community, coming together for a provider banquet focused on brain development and music, a spa night, and, most recently, a holiday celebration that brought together providers and kindergarten teachers, bridging the divide between the early childhood and K-12 landscapes.

Currently, Deneen and her assistant care for six children, all under the age of two. Focusing her care on younger children serves a critical need, as infant and toddler care is often in greatest demand but hardest to obtain due to high costs and limited supply. Family child care programs like Deneen’s help close this gap; they are often more affordable than center-based programs, and the intimate home-based setting allows Deneen to offer individualized care that more closely aligns with families and children’s needs. For example, Deneen works hard to accommodate families’ diverse schedules by adjusting her work hours, opening earlier or staying open later, and sometimes even meeting a parent halfway to pick up their child. It is a pleasure to help families, she says, because she knows they have other options for care, but they choose her program for their children.

“It’s a joy. The children come in the morning, and they reach for me, and their mom or dad are saying goodbye, and they say, ‘Okay, I’m alright.’”

When asked what she enjoys most about the work she does, Deneen exclaims, “Everything! The nurturing, the care, the hugs.” She also mentions the trust she builds with the children and families. “It’s a joy,” she says, “The children come in the morning, and they reach for me, and their mom or dad are saying goodbye, and they say, ‘Okay, I’m alright.’” Children in Deneen’s program know that they are safe and loved, and their parents go to work confident that their children are receiving quality early care and education in an environment that offers all the comforts of home.

The work does not come without challenges, of course, and Deneen notes that it is important for families to understand that while she is offering a service and is there to help, she is also running a business. To counter this challenge, Deneen says, “I have my program policies and procedures set, and this helps avoid conflict down the road.” Starting out, Deneen found the administrative aspect of running her own business to be tedious, but attending business classes through All Our Kin helped her develop a more professional approach. “I was winging it,” she says of her early business management, “I didn’t have a solid structure. All Our Kin helped me scale it down and streamline the process, making it more practical.”

Speaking on her goals for the children at Mommy’s Day Care, Deneen shares, “I want to make sure they are properly cared for and learning, that each child knows they are special, loved, and they can do anything, and that whatever challenges they come in with, we support them through those challenges.” Deneen prides herself on maintaining close relationships with the families she serves well beyond the years the children are in her program: “One of the children I used to care for is now fourteen, going into high school, and his family still talks about the care he received in my program.” She is not just in the business of child care; she is in the business of transforming opportunities and outcomes for young children and families.

At All Our Kin, Deneen joins peers who share this same commitment as well as a passion for lifelong learning and professional growth. Building their capacity as early childhood educators and small business owners through All Our Kin’s programming, family child care providers also form a community that reflects and empowers the warmth, support, and strength providers give to children and families every day.

“I want it to be a learning wonderland.”

With the grant from Care@Work, Deneen has plans that are both practical and enriching. She purchased her current home in Norwalk in 2017 and specifically chose one with an unfinished basement so that she could convert it into a separate space for her child care program. Thanks to Care@Work, Deneen will be able to add a half bathroom for the children’s use, which will allow for better supervision and fewer group trips upstairs to the bathroom. She is also working with a designer to renovate her educational space to personalize it for the children in her care. Deneen is eager to enhance the children’s physical environment to make it more fun and accessible, while also being intellectually and developmentally stimulating. “I want it to be a learning wonderland,” she says, “There will be mirrors on the walls, reading materials, shelves that children can reach with toys. The space will be open, so that children can roam freely and learn.”

Deneen is excited about the ways in which the Care@Work grant will allow her to run her program more efficiently and better serve the children in her care. Opening Mommy’s Day Care in 2007 was the fulfillment of Deneen’s lifelong dream, one that thanks to Care@Work and the support and encouragement she receives personally and professionally, will continue to grow in service to children and families in her community.

Care@Work by Care.com is committed to working with the most forward‐thinking companies to support the diverse family care needs of all employees.  We are excited for Deneen to have this opportunity to enhance her family child care program through Care@Work’s generous grant and look forward to sharing the results of her renovation project. Stay tuned!

Love, Friendship & Black Girl Magic: All Our Kin Family Child Care Providers Celebrate Diversity and Culture in Black History Month and Beyond

By Ambata Kazi-Nance, Communications Fellow

February is Black History Month. Historian and writer Carter G. Woodson created Black History Month to celebrate African American achievements and promote intellectual curiosity of African American life and history.

At All Our Kin, equity and justice are at the heart of the work we do. Current studies show that children can distinguish racial differences as early as six months old, and begin to develop racial biases in their toddler years. Our family child care professionals strive to work against these biases and positively affirm the identities of each of their children by providing early childhood education that is culturally sensitive and inclusive.

He had a dream, we are the dream!

Family child care provider Shanee Wilson, who owns and operates Sunflower Family Daycare in Stratford, focuses on love and friendship during Black History Month. Shanee read All The Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger to the children and encouraged them to point out what they saw while she read. “We talked about how the children in the book looked different from each other, but they were all still friends.”

Shanee extended the lessons from the book reading and discussion in a special Valentine’s Day art experience. The children made handprints using black paint on white paper, and white paint on black paper. Shanee encouraged the children to see how the colors blended as they added their handprints to the paper. The children then decorated their art with paper hearts. When asked what she hopes to inspire in her young learners through their Black History Month activities, Shanee says, “I want them to love one another. I want them to know that they may have different skin colors, but they are all the same where it counts.”

Every culture, every race, matters.

Family child care provider Danaisha Lawrence introduced the concepts of segregation and inequality to the children in her program, Pieces of the Puzzle Daycare, with a sensory experiment using eggs. She showed the children two eggs, one white and one she had dyed green. “I told them the green egg wasn’t treated the same as the other egg, simply because it was green,” she says. “Then we cracked the eggs and I asked the children what was different about the eggs on the inside. They all said, ‘Nothing, they’re the same.’ I told them it’s the same with people.”

Danaisha focused her Black History Month lessons on highlighting African American Civil Rights pioneers. After learning about Rosa Parks through a storytelling and short YouTube documentary, Danaisha facilitated an art activity incorporating the lessons they had learned about inequality. Using magazines, the children cut out people they found in the pages. Danaisha encouraged the children to look for pictures of people who were different colors and genders. They then took the pictures they had cut out and glued them onto the windows of paper buses they had made.

Danaisha hopes the lessons and activities will inspire the children to dream big and never give up. “I want them to know that no matter what, you can be what you want to be,” she says.

We are Black history, too.

For Tané Trimble, who runs Tané’s Little World Day Care in New Haven, creating memorable moments with the children in her family child care program is important to her work. To teach them about Black inventor Garret A. Morgan, she led them in a sensory activity to make their own stoplights. Tané gave each of them a small picture of Morgan to glue on the back of their stoplights. “I repeated his name and had them say it back to me. I told them a Black man had made this stoplight. I wanted them to understand what it represents and be able to share what they learned with their families,” she says. Tané has fond memories of what she herself learned from her teachers as a child, and she hopes when the children grow up and hear Morgan’s name or read about him in school, they will remember that they learned about him in her program. “I want it to be remembered as something I gave them,” she says.

In addition to honoring important Black historical figures, Tané also likes to spotlight the unique qualities of African American contemporary culture in her program. Inspired by the many creative ways educators highlight Black culture during Black History Month, Tané facilitated a “Black girl magic” art activity. The children painted uncooked pasta in different shapes with black paint and glued them to faces of various shades of brown; they then made dresses for the children. Tané chose the activity to highlight the beauty of African American hair textures and styles, and the joyfulness of Black life.

Carter G. Woodson envisioned Black History Month as the beginning of a year-long celebration of Black life. Our family child care providers honor Woodson’s dream by incorporating racial and cultural diversity in all aspects of their family child care programs.

Shanee makes sure the dolls and toys she uses in her program, and the books she reads to the children, reflect different races and ethnicities. She enjoys creating activities that increase the children’s understandings of diverse cultural practices.

Danaisha, who is from Jamaica and has children in her program from parts of Africa and South America, keeps a world map prominently displayed in her program and uses it to teach the children about different parts of the world. “I want them to know every culture matters,” she says.

Tané keeps the reading area in her program stocked with books by Black authors and books with pictures of Black people. In December, she recognizes Kwanzaa and teaches the children about the origins and rituals of the holiday. She also makes keepsake books with photos of her and the children, which she gives to the children when they complete her program and transition to school. She does this to “let them know they are special,” and also to remember their early childhood teacher, a Black woman. Celebrating Black History Month with the children in her program reminds Tané, “We (their Black teachers) are a part of Black history, too.”

All Our Kin was created with the belief that all children, regardless of their racial and ethnic background, deserve an educational foundation that allows them to thrive in school and in life. They deserve to feel valued as citizens who contribute to society, and Black History Month is one way to encourage and celebrate that value. And as this article reminds us, Black History Month is not just for Black people, it is for all of us who inhabit this world together.

As we strive to create a more just, equitable society, we hope people of all races will recognize and celebrate Black History Month and carry the lessons it teaches of Black life and culture beyond February. Young children see color and are capable of recognizing and forming preferences based on the differences they see. Learning about the many ways African Americans impact American society and culture is one powerful way early childhood educators make a difference in how our youngest learners see the world and themselves and others within it.

If you are interested in learning more about anti-bias and anti-racist early childhood curriculum, this link provides excellent book lists, articles, and other great resources to get you started. 

“I consider myself an advocate for providers and families. I am here to be the voice from the field.” Family child care provider Lottie Brown speaks to policymakers at a national conference.

“I live for the lightbulb moments”

Lottie Brown, a nationally accredited family child care provider and owner of Krayola Park in New Haven, has worked in the field of education for more than twenty years. She was inspired to start Krayola Park while working for the New Haven Board of Education as a preschool teacher. During that time, she realized that many children in the community were experiencing trauma before the age of three. Determined to intervene, Lottie decided to become a family child care provider, working with infants, toddlers, and their families in a more intimate way in order to combat early childhood trauma and facilitate healthy development.

Ask Lottie about Krayola Park, and her passion is evident: “I live for the light bulb moments—the moments when I see a child connect something they have heard before with something new. It’s a beautiful process and it is one of the many joys of this work.” Like many family child care providers, Lottie knows that the work of early childhood education is a holistic process. Her mission extends beyond the learning that happens within the walls of Krayola Park. It is about the wellbeing of the child, the family, and the community. It is this approach to her work that makes Lottie a gifted educator and a natural leader; she goes above and beyond for those around her, lifting up children, families, and fellow providers as a result. With extensive early childhood experience, a knack for public speaking, and a passion for advocacy and storytelling, Lottie is well-positioned to elevate the field.

“I am here to be the voice from the field”

That’s how on Thursday, August 9, Lottie became a panelist at the federal Office of Child Care’s annual State and Territory Administrators Meeting (STAM) in Arlington, Virginia. STAM brings together child care subsidy administrators from across the country to network, participate in peer discussions, share best practices, and attend presentations, all with the goal of improving child care systems and supporting the success of young children, their caregivers, and their families. And this year, administrators were eager to hear directly from child care providers themselves.

The plenary session, “A Peek Inside the Private Business of Child Care,” was designed to help child care subsidy administrators understand the impact of subsidy decisions on child care businesses. Lottie was invited to share the family child care perspective. “I consider myself an advocate for children, providers, and families. My home is their home away from home. I am here to be the voice from field,” Lottie opened. Along with fellow panelists she made the case that instability in child care subsidy programs destabilizes child care businesses; and in family child care, the provider often absorbs the resulting financial loss herself. “I took another job when Connecticut’s subsidy program shut down for 15 months. Even though it meant long hours and late nights, I wanted to make sure that families who relied on subsidy assistance could still access my program,” Lottie shared.

“Invest in organizations, like All Our Kin, that are in a supporting role”

The plenary session touched on many important topics, from the impact of the new federal requirements to reimbursement rates to parent education. One question centered on ways that states can invest subsidy money for maximum impact. Lottie’s answer resonated strongly with the audience. “Invest in organizations, like All Our Kin, that are in a supporting role and can bridge the gap between providers and state regulators. These support systems are critical for making family child care providers feel comfortable in allowing someone into their home, knowing that person is there to partner with them in their success, rather than monitor them.” Attendees saw this as a concrete strategy to take back to their home states.

In all, the plenary session was a huge success. One attendee remarked that it was the best plenary session throughout his years attending STAM. Reflecting on the event, Lottie said, “After the National Association for Family Child Care conference earlier this year, I set a goal for myself to talk to more people in power about how to support family child care. At STAM, I had the opportunity to do that, and to make sure that the voice of family child care was heard. I’m honored to have been included in the conversation.”