Common Ground 3/3/21 Common Ground 3/3/21

NEW HOURS! Starting March 15: 8am to 5:30pm

We are happy to announce that due to improving trends with the pandemic and full vaccination of nearly all staff (we are waiting on an appointment for our newest returned staff member, Celestine!) that we will be extending our hours to 5:30pm!

We are so grateful for your acceptance of our limited hours. They have been one of the most successful tools in regard to Common Ground’s survival of the pandemic.

First and foremost, the limited hours have been an instrumental mitigation strategy. Keeping our groups contained from one another has been key to avoiding room closures. I was on a call last night with my advocacy group and two of the teachers at another center had both come off of back to back closures in their classrooms due to Covid moving through their center.

The limited hours have also allowed us to minimize our monthly operating deficit without raising tuition. While the admin staff and I have worked hard to make sure that we are taking advantage of every pandemic funding opportunity available, we are also working to make sure that it will last us and that we do not end up in a dire financial situation.

This ties back to the work that we are contributing to on the federal (and state) level where we are asking for substantial and sustainable investments into child care as a whole. We know, as a community that you support our teachers making a livable wage, having health insurance and retirement benefits, and having the ability to access continuing education. Common Ground does better than a lot of other centers out there, but that is because of our generous community. We know that supporting this legislation is how to equitably bring this to all providers, while also reducing the financial burden that quality care has on all families.

Stepping down off my soapbox, we hope that these extra 5 hours per week provide extra support to your work week!

Common Ground 3/2/21 Common Ground 3/2/21

Women's History Month: Fantastic Books for Kids

Hello Common Ground Readers!

TODAY IS READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY!!

March is also WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, so we decided to share ten of our most favorite books to share with your children. Reading to children is essential. It is food for their imagination. It is integral to the development of empathy and understanding people not like them.

Reading is a gateway to the entirety of what we can know. All you have to do is hand them the keys.

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison: Buy Here - Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of forty trailblazing black women in American history.
What will I be? by Jayla Joseph: Buy Here - There are no limits on the greatness we can achieve! A positive & powerful picture book showing Black girls planning for their futures.
Little Feminist Board Book Set by Lydia Ortiz: Buy Here - It is never too early to learn about amazing women of history! This set of board books teaches our littlest leaders about women activists, artists, leaders, and pioneers with colorful pictures to capture their imagination.
Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World by Kate Pankehurst: Buy Here - Share a different story each night, fill your children’s brains with all of the wondrous things even one person can do to change the world.
A Is for Awesome!: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World by Derek Desierto: Buy Here - Why stick with plain old A, B, C when you can have Amelia (Earhart), Malala, Tina (Turner), Ruth (Bader Ginsburg), all the way to eXtraordinary You―and the Zillion of adventures you will go on?
Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating : Buy Here - Who doesn’t love sharks? Who doesn’t love a woman awesome and brave and smart enough to swim with sharks just to learn about them? Read your little marine biologist all about Eugenie Clark!
My Little Golden Book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Buy Here - The Little Golden Books all about amazing women are phenomenal, and this one is no exception. Add it to your shelf for your little freedom fighter.
The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill: Buy Here - This one is for middles instead of littles, but it is worth reading to anyone who will listen. Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
I will be Fierce! by Bea Birdsong: Buy Here - A powerful picture book about courage, confidence, kindness, and finding the extraordinary in everyday moments.
Dear Girl: A Celebration of Wonderful, Smart, Beautiful You! by Amy Krause Rosenthal: Buy Here - A book about how every woman is extraordinary, especially YOU.

Please share your favorite children’s books on amazing women in the comments!

Do you like posts like these?? We have several book lists for all different themes! Here’s one for Children’s Books on Math!

Subscribe to our blog so you don’t ever miss a thing!

Common Ground 3/1/21 Common Ground 3/1/21

Common Ground adds our voice!

For those of you who haven’t figured this our yet, I am a very passionate person that loves to share information! It was that drive that caused me to join Beautycounter - a personal care product company with a social mission to make all personal care products safer (see more here) - in 2014. I was excited that it was more than a business, more than a job, it was a chance to add my voice to something that I believed in, and really begin to affect change in Washington! 7 years in, I’m still more excited about the mission than selling the products (as amazing as they are!).

I bring that up, because my experience lobbying for legislation in the personal care product industry, has opened up a door with NAEYC to lobby for legislation to support child care.

I was chosen out of hundreds of applicants to be a part of the NVAEYC 2021 Advocacy Leadership Training Program. With this came a registration to the 2021 NAEYC Public Policy Forum this past weekend.

I am excited to announce that I will be representing Common Ground at three meetings this week with our federal leaders - Representative, Gerry Connolly, Senator Mark Warner and Senator Tim Kaine - to advocate for NAEYC’s three key messages:

Funding child care is money well spent.
Relief and recovery investments in child care are needed.
It’s time to sustainably and substantially invest in early childhood education and educators as part of America’s core infrastructure.

NAEYC is asking for bipartisan support of the American Rescue Plan, the covid relief bill that includes $39B in support for child care, and that our senators co-sponsor the Child Care for Working Families Act in 2021.

The pandemic highlighted the fact that child care has been underfunded. It’s time to not only get us through the pandemic, but use it as a launching pad to create the early childhood education that is necessary for the future of our county.

You may be wondering, what kind of investment do we need?

After doing some research, it seems that number comes in between $140-200B annually.

That funding will work to ensure that everyone has access to quality early childhood educational experiences by investing in the backbone of the industry - the early childhood educator. Teachers in early childhood are professional educators. However, they are not paid professional salaries.

While Common Ground already compensates our teachers above the benchmark for their positions in the industry and provides benefits that generally aren’t available in the child care industry, its an uphill battle, with parents shouldering the cost burden of quality care and education without federal funding.

I look forward to sharing more of the advocacy work that I am doing on behalf of Common Ground - as well as sharing future successes with our community!

-Miss Liz