COVID-19 Response & Recovery for Child Care & Wellbeing
Our goal is to ensure that young children have quality, nurturing, and safe child care and education during the pandemic. For more information about this effort and the coalition behind it, please visit our web hub here.
If you have information, flyers, or events you would like to share in this publication please contact Laura@BrightBeginningsMC.org.
This Week’s Highlights
A few highlights from this last week are shared below. Previous Weekly Digests are available here.
Vaccines By the Numbers
83% of eligible Monterey County residents ages 5+ have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, as reported here by the Monterey County Health Department on February 22. Stay informed with the Monterey County COVID-19 portal.
News
- Santa Cruz Community Ventures is providing monthly stipends for child care for families in Monterey County working in agriculture, services, and hospitality that do not qualify for federal or state aid to pay for childcare. The program provides a monthly stipend of $300 per household. They have a few spots still open and are taking applications through tomorrow, February 25. Here is the referral form to refer parents or share it with partners that can refer families to the program.
- Need help applying for the Department of Social Services Child Care Infrastructure Grants? This Monday, February 28 from 6:30-7:30pm, El Pajaro Community Development Corporation is holding a workshop in Spanish to walk through the steps to apply. Register here: Taller Informativo: Programa de Subsidios para Infraestructura de Cuidado y Desarrollo Infantil (ecenterdirect.com).
- As of February 18, the California Department of Public Health released an updated Guidance for Child Care Providers and Programs. Updates include: COVID-19 Vaccines, testing; face coverings/masks; food service and meal times; visitors; isolation for illness; how to respond to exposure or outbreaks, including quarantine; and considerations for travel.
- Join the Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) Webinar Series focused on working with and supporting our education partners as they consider, plan for, and implement UPK. Register here for the webinar today, Thursday, February 24 from 3:30-5pm focused on UPK Implementation: Community Engagement and Partnerships..
- Register today for Connecting Communities: High-Quality Early Care and Education: Cost, Affordability, and Racial Equity on Thursday, March 3 at 1:00pm on the Connecting Communities® website. Participation is free, but pre-registration is required.
- Maternal Mental Health 101: There’s still a chance to register for the complimentary webinar hosted by 2020 Mom and presented by Postpartum Support International on Thursday, March 17 from 10:30am – 12pm. Learn about the various Maternal Mental Health Disorders, the differences between them, risk factors, and treatment options. A link to the recording will be sent to all those who register.
- Save the date! Join Bananas for a free virtual conference focused on bringing together FFN (Family, Friend, and Neighbor) Caregivers and their community advocates on April 27, from 4:30-8:00pm (English) and April 28, from 4:30-8:00pm (Spanish). This is a community conference dedicated to anyone working with young children in a license-exempt setting (FFN caregivers), as well as early care and education community-based organizations. Share the flyer in your networks. Register here.
- Are you or others you know interested in starting a child care business? MAOF is recruiting potential family child care homes in addition to offering free training, marketing, and up to $1,000 in support to new or expanding child care programs in Monterey County. Share these flyers with your friends and family or call MAOF at (831) 757-0775 to learn more.
- Learn about new professional development opportunities available for ECE providers in the coming weeks. See the Quality Matters calendar for upcoming events!
- Need to find a testing or vaccine clinic in Monterey County? Visit MontereyCountyVaccines.com or find your location in the bilingual flyers below:
- Free Testing Clinics
- Free Vaccination Clinics
- Note: some clinics are short staffed due to COVID outbreaks and may need to close on short notice.
COVID-19 Information
COVID-19 Vaccine Information ➡️ click here to learn more…
General COVID-19 & Public Health ➡️ click here to learn more…
Resources & Tools
Financial Relief for Families ➡️ click here to learn more…
All Ages Learning & Development Supports ➡️ click here to learn more…
Resilience & Mental Health Resources ➡️ click here to learn more…
Child Care & Education Quality & Business Tools ➡️ click here to learn more…
Policy & Advocacy ➡️ click here to learn more…
It Takes a Coalition
The emergency response providing coordinated solutions for child care and education is led by a coalition of early childhood champions, united under the Bright Beginnings Strategic Framework to better support all young children and their families, to prepare every child for life and school. This coalition is ever-growing:
4th Monterey County Supervisorial District
30th California Assembly District
Building Healthy Communities
CAPSLO
Carmel Unified School District
Child Care Planning Council
Child Development Centers and Continuing Development Incorporated
Children’s Council
Early Development Services
First 5 Monterey County
Go Kids, Inc.
Health Department
MAOF Resource & Referral & Alternative Payment Program
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District
Natividad Medical Center
North Monterey County Unified School District
Office of Education – Early Learning Program
Office of Education – Educational Services
Public Health Office
Quality Matters Monterey County
Salinas City Elementary School District
Social Services – Child Abuse Prevention Council
United Farmworkers Foundation
United Way of Monterey County
YMCA
A special thanks to the coordinating team and major funders: Bright Beginnings Backbone, Child Care Planning Council, First 5 Monterey County, MAOF Resource & Referral, Quality Matters, and the United Way of Monterey County.
For more information, please contact sonja@brightbeginningsmc.org.