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Aug 21, 2020

Week of August 17th Round-Up

CDF-Ohio & Groundwork Partner to Expand Ohio Infant-Toddler Court Teams

The Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio and Groundwork Ohio announced today a unique partnership to improve outcomes for Ohio infants, toddlers and their families who are involved in the state juvenile court and child welfare systems. The partnership between the two leading state child advocacy organizations will support the development of Infant-Toddler Court Teams in Cuyahoga, Montgomery, and Scioto counties under the leadership of Judge Kristin Sweeney, Judge Helen Wallace and Judge Alan Lemons respectively. The work will be funded by a one-year, $425,000 State Expansion Grant from ZERO TO THREE, a national leader whose mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. The organizations have engaged Cindy Oser, recently retired as Director of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health at ZERO TO THREE to serve as the Statewide Coordinator for the grant.


 

Montgomery County’s Birth to 3 Collaborative

Ready, Set, Soar Ohio created a blog series to shine a spotlight on early childhood champions and to discuss other issues in the 0-3 space. Recently, Montgomery County Commissioner Carolyn Rice wrote a blog to discuss her involvement in Montgomery County's Birth to 3 Collaborative and why it is critically important to invest in children early on in their lives.

"Supporting young children is an investment we have to make," said Commissioner Carolyn Rice. "When we do the moral and smart thing for children, we’re also saving taxpayer dollars and using the money they’ve entrusted to us wisely." 


 

REMINDER: Respond to the Market Rate Survey Today


On July 30 child care providers were notified that it was time to complete the 2020 Market Rate Survey.  ODJFS has contracted with Strategic Research Group (SRG) to conduct the survey.  Information collected includes program enrollment, private pay rates, and barriers to utilizing Ohio’s Publicly Funded Child Care program.  Your participation is vital to ensure that ODJFS has a true representation of the current child care market.  ODJFS is asking all providers to complete this survey regardless of whether you provide publicly funded child care.  Your program should have received an email with a secure link to complete the confidential survey.  The survey will end on September 13th.


If you are having problems accessing the survey or have other questions, please contact Strategic Research Group at 2020mrs@websrg.com or 1-800-341-3660. You can also check out the Frequently Asked Questions page at http://www.websrg.com/odjfsFAQ.

 

National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit


All early childhood stakeholders, including policy leaders, advocates, researchers, and funders from across the county are invited to join the virtual National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit on Tuesday, September 15, 2020. The Summit is presented by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at The University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs.


The theme of the inaugural 2020 National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit is Building a State Policy Roadmap to Strengthen the Earliest Years. The Summit will bring the early childhood field together to:

  • learn about the newest findings on the science of the developing child

  • discuss how policy choices can lead to or reduce racial disparities

  • launch the first and much anticipated 2020 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap, paired with custom state Roadmaps and online data interactives

  • hear from state leaders about using the evidence-driven Roadmap to strengthen prenatal-to-3 systems of care in their state


 

ICYMI: Recent Webinars


We have had many webinars over the past couple of months and hope you were able to join most of them! If you were unable to join our webinars, we always post each recording on our website as well as links to the resources mentioned during the discussion. We just added last week's round table discussion with Congresswoman Joyce Beatty where she called on all of us to stand up for children and child care.



 

Join Us in the Movement to Save Child Care

Over the past few months, with your help, we have sent over 12,000 messages to Congress urging them to #SaveChildCare. We cannot express enough how thankful we are for your dedication to saving the child care industry. Your voices are being heard. We know Congress is listening to our concerns, but we need to continue to push this issue on them to ensure that child care does not fall through the cracks in the final package. 


We know you are probably exhausted from hearing this message, but child care providers and the families they serve are also exhausted from the effects of the child care crisis. Once again, we are requesting that you take a few minutes out of your day today to contact your members of Congress and to encourage those around you to do the same. Even if you have already reached out, we need you to keep pushing the message at least once per week to make it loud and clear to Congress that child care is a top priority for Ohioans. Through our VoterVoice platform, you are able to submit one message to each of your members every 24 hours -- set a daily or weekly reminder on your phone to keep sending a message! Click the buttons below to get started.

 

Ohio AAP 2020 Summer Education Virtual Meeting


The Ohio Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (Ohio AAP), is hosting a virtual education meeting on Friday, September 4th where they plan to address lead screening and prevention training. Lead screening and lead poisoning prevention is key to ensuring that young children grow up safe and healthy as lead poisoning can be detrimental to their health and brain development. Though the format is virtual, they plan to create an interactive and fun education experience for our speakers and attendees!


 

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