Celebrating Juneteenth
Here at Common Ground, it was already in our minds to honor and celebrate Juneteenth. We were so surprised and pleased that Governor Northam made it a state holiday last year, even in the midst of everything else going on. We were closed in June 2020, so we could not honor it properly, but it gave us time to think on what it means to our teachers and students. On the actual day we continue to do the work and support our families today, but all of our staff gets Holiday Pay.
We are also here to say that’s not enough. A nod to acknowledge this National Memory on what was supposed to be the end of racial injustice is the best way to BEGIN striving for growth and change. Stopping here implies that there isn’t still work to do.
Our work is just beginning everywhere, especially in childcare, where women of color help raise and educate the future.
The best way to begin striving for growth and change is acknowledging the mistakes of our past. There is no better personification of this journey than Ralph Northam.
The Daily Podcast has an amazing episode covering Northam’s journey in the last five years. You can listen to it HERE. When it was discovered Northam had dressed in black face during a contest in medical school, it was disappointing, but unsurprising. Black politicians had been used to this song and dance of half-hearted apologies and photo ops. Instead of trying to bury his mistakes, Northam took the time to feel that shame and consider his internal dialogue. Most importantly? He asked. He listened. He sat down with his BIPOC politicians and asked what he should be doing to guide the future of Virginia in the right direction.
Their collaboration has transformed Virginia. Knowing that there is so much still to do is heartening, because it means we can still grow and change and continue toward a better future.
What are things we can do here? Today? Now? What are the things WE can do to move our families, our school, our district, our state, our country, our world forward?
Self-Reflect. Be okay with realizing you don’t know everything, that you are wrong, that you have biases. Familiarize yourself with them. Knowing the problem is instrumental in defeating it. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO DO THE SAME. Making a mistake or being wrong is only bad if you don’t work to improve. Learn what there is to know about Juneteenth.
Listen. Listen to your BIPOC neighbors, friends, teachers. Ask them what you can do, how you can support them. Ask them what they need, and keep your promises.
Speak. After the first two steps, it’s time to speak! Talk to your representatives, talk to your friends and family, help guide them in personal growth. Supporting your BIPOC childcare teachers is more essential than ever, now that the Biden administration is taking great strides in the early childhood educational field. Help them make their voice heard by adding your own.
Thank you for helping support our Common Ground community every single day. Growing with you has been an honor and a privilege.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
May is National Foster Care Month
Here at Common Ground Childcare we are dedicated to helping all children grow in a loving, nurturing environment.
Which is why we are using our voice to bring attention to National Foster Care Month. Foster care children are in more need of advocacy than ever. The Covid-19 pandemic has done a lot to shine a light on the inequalities of representation and support, especially for our minority children in the foster care system.
What can you do to help?
Educate Yourself
What is Foster Care? Why is it necessary? How can I get involved? These questions and more are answered Here.
Key Facts and Statistics
Include these key points in your messaging to demonstrate how child welfare and legal professionals can prioritize foster care as a services to families by engaging young people in all aspects of permanency planning and helpingthem maintain meaningful connections with family and other support systems while in out-of-home care.
There are over 423,000 children and youth in foster care. Over half have a case plan goal of reunification with their parents or primary caregiver.
Juvenile and family court systems can influence whether children are reunified with their families or reenter care.
Meaningful and appropriate involvement of youth in their court hearings and case planning greatly benefits all participants and leads to more favorable outcomes for families.
Competent legal representation for parents is associated with the achievement of timely reunification.
A strong support system of professionals and family can help young people address the challenges they face during their transition to adulthood. Virtual engagement tools can be used to establish and maintain that support system by enhancing connectedness for all involved.
In addition to supporting brain development, encouraging young people to be active participants in planning their own lives supports the development of leadership skills, improves self-esteem, and helps form critical social connections.
The Resources that child welfare professionals need to have access to are HERE. This site has a lot of info for adults in every level of involvement, including how to volunteer and be a personal advocate for a child in need.
A Proclamation from the White House - This is an acknowledgment that all foster care children, even ones recently aged out, need extra support. We need to do everything we can to make sure these kids don’t fall through the cracks just because they aren’t little.
Share what you have learned and how essential our impact is to foster children. Share it with friends and family, share it on social media, shed light on the inequities of our system and work to help us change it. Here’s a link to an Outreach Toolkit to show you the basics.
Donate: There are tons of non-profits all over the country that donate to help Foster Care Children in some capacity. We recommend checking Charity Navigator or doing your own research before picking one, but there are so many ways to help! For example, the Blue Ribbon Project aims to make sure foster kids are provided with a backpack full of essentials to make them more comfortable in their new homes.
Help your kids understand Foster Care
Explain to your children that Foster Care kids are just like them. Like all children, they need empathy, care, and patience while they figure out the world around them. This is always easier with books:
The Foster Dragon: A Story about Foster Care — One of the Dragon Series books that helps kids begin to understand what Foster Care is and what Foster Care Kids need!
Kids Need to be Safe: A Story about Kids in Foster Care — A children’s book for children IN the foster care system, and for kids who want to understand why the Foster Care system is so important.
Home for Awhile — A Children’s Book about Calvin, a kid in foster care who wants to feel safe in their “for awhile” home.
Love You from Right Here — Featuring a diverse representation of characters including men, women, boys, and girls, it is written from the perspective of the foster parent to the child in foster care.
No Matter What — A little squirrel’s journey to find love!
Above all, please keep abreast of the situation politically. Keep pushing for equity with your local representatives! Together, we will make a difference.
Love Love Love,
LJ and your Common Ground Family
Friends of CG Fridays!: True Mover
HURRAY! IT’S TIME FOR OUR “FEATURED FRIENDS OF CG” FRIDAY!
This week we are bragging on someone who LITERALLY and FIGURATIVELY moved us with their professionalism, kindness, and flawless work ethic.
True Mover in Sterling — Chris and Robert will take care of you.
TrueMover is a small family of local movers born out of a passion for hard work. Their team was entirely raised in Northern Virginia, and everyone there has known one another since the days of High School sports. When asked if they enjoy the work, they said:
“It is a great blessing to be physically active every day with people that we love!”
True Mover serves all of Northern Virginia, but can and do move nationwide regularly. They offer full service moving and storage, and their warehouse is right down the street from us in Sterling, Virginia!
Our Story with True Mover
The year 2020 was stressful the world over. But here at Common Ground, the stress started a little earlier that year, and for reasons completely unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After a year-long experiment we realized we had to recombine the Common Ground Wiehle-Metro location and the Common Ground Wainwright location. Our Honeybee and Turtle Kindergarten classrooms suddenly had to be at home AND comfortable in the Great Hall, a space that had to be completely cleared and refilled every single week so that weekend groups could use the space.
We were tight on space, funds, time, and energy.
Enter our friends at True Mover.
They loaned us durable plastic storage boxes for all of our Wiehle-Metro classroom supplies.
Once everything was packed up and appropriately labeled they made quick work of emptying that center.
They took all of the essential classroom boxes to the Wainwright location and took all of the “storage boxes” into a very reasonably priced storage unit in Sterling.
They allowed us a week with the storage boxes to unpack all of our classroom items carefully in the Wainwright location.
The most incredible part was: they helped us every Friday night to empty out the Great Hall Room and reload it with all of the furniture in the right places on Sunday night. Every week. One company of movers basically solved 90% of our problems.
January and February of 2020 were really hard months. There was a lot to figure out, a lot of questions to answer, a lot of valid concerns on how we were going to make this work. Our teachers were steadfast and patient, our parents were open-minded and helpful, our children were resilient and optimistic.
Without the help of True Mover crew, it would have been impossible. We are eternally grateful and we will shout our recommendations of their work ethic and character from the rooftops.
Moving is one of the most stressful things you can do in your entire life. Hire a crew that you trust to really have your best interests at heart. Also, you know, moving with a U-Haul is really annoying.