Early Care and Education Digest
Our goal is to ensure that young children have quality, nurturing, and safe child care and education during and post-pandemic. For more information about this effort and the coalition behind it, please visit our web hub here.
News and resources are shared below. Previous Weekly Digests are available here.
If you have information, flyers, or events you would like to share in this publication, please contact or send information to: Laura@BrightBeginningsMC.org.
Want more information from Bright Beginnings? Stay up-to-date and join the mailing list for the BB Weekly Recovery Coalition Digest, Maternal Mental Health Task Force, and the BB Quarterly Update.
News
- Raíces y Cariño (RC) Family Collective – Opening Celebration! Join many local organizations, agencies, and individuals who support families to bring marketing materials and educational information to this event, celebrating the opening of this family resource center serving Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Sunday, October 9 from 3:00pm – 5:00p. Please share these fliers!
- Alisal Union School District is having a Resource Fair for families on November 5, 2022 from 12-:00-4:00pm at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Academy. For more information contact 831-775-4500. Flyers can be downloaded here: English, Spanish. Tabling opportunities are also available!
- Halloween and Fall events in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties! Visit the Monterey Bay Parent Article for fun Fall events for everyone.
- The Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce Children’s Shopping Tour is scheduled for December 10th this year where volunteers take hundreds of kids shopping for school attire. To learn more about how to volunteer for this event and how children can benefit, visit here.
- Quality Counts California wants to hear from you! Participate in a focus group to share your thoughts about early learning and care in California to help shape more equitable solutions. Sign up and learn more.
- Read impactful stories of home-based child care providers overcoming systemic hurdles. Child Care: Invaluable and Undervalued: What Affordable, 24-Hour Child Care Can Look Like: Proof of Concept from Kalamazoo
- Free training for informal child care providers (also known as Family, Friends and Neighbors) with Program for Infant & Toddler Caregivers. Contact Maria at MAOF, call 831-757-0775.
- New Multilingual Learning Toolkit Updates! This month marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Multilingual Learning Toolkit website. To celebrate this milestone, Early Edge California and partners have developed exciting new enhancements to the Toolkit. Take a look!
- Innovative Approaches to Identifying and Supporting Dual Language Learners. Early Edge California invites you to join their webinar on Tuesday, October 18 at 1pm. Nearly 7.5 million children in the U.S. are DLLs. Research shows that DLL children have better long-term academic outcomes when they receive support in preserving their home language. Register here.
- Supporting those that have lost a pregnancy or infant? It can be so hard to talk about. Join reproductive psychology expert Dr. Julie Bindeman to learn how to work effectively with trauma, anxiety, and depression for grieving parents. Friday, October 14 from 7:00am – 3:00pm. Register here.
- Join parent wellness groups to address emotional stressors at The Parenting Connection of Monterey County. Share English and Spanish flyers or register here. The Support Warmline is also available to 24hrs a day from both families and professionals: (831) 783-5933.
- Learn about the latest developments in maternal mental health screenings with Mom 2020 webinar. Wednesday, October 26 from 11:30am – 12:45pm. Register here.
- October is ADHD Awareness Month. The brochure Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Teens: What You Need to Know provides information about ADHD in children and teens including symptoms, how it is diagnosed, causes, treatment options, and helpful resources.
- Free Preventative Health and Safety Training! Santa Clara County resource and Referral program is offering an EMSA-approved eight-hour Preventative Health and Safety training (with nutrition and lead poisoning prevention) required for child care licensing. This training is open to participants in San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties. Learn more here.
- Fight the Flu! Getting a flu shot can protect you and your loved ones. Schedule your flu vaccine today at vaccines.gov or myturn.ca.gov/flu
- Why are physical exams important for children? Physicals can help find and prevent medical, dental and mental/behavioral health issues before they become urgent. Get free health checks and immunizations at the Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) Program. Check out and post these fliers to learn more.
- Need to find a COVID-19 testing or vaccine clinic in Monterey County? Visit MontereyCountyVaccines.com or find a location in the flyers: Free Testing and Free Vaccination sites.
Monterey County Vaccines By the Numbers
Overall, 80.3% of the eligible population in Monterey County have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. For more details on COVID health data, visit the Health Departments website here. Stay informed on all things COVID-19 on the Monterey County COVID-19 portal.
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.