Newsletter: March 2
Dear Common Ground Community,
It’s hard to believe that we have been living inside of a global pandemic for a year now. Without diminishing what this trial has taken from us, I like to think of the community that we have built here as a bright spot in otherwise darker times. Common Ground was able to survive through a 3 and a half month closure, keeping our employees paid through a great majority of that.
We were able to safely re-open, navigate a spike in COVID cases, and get our staff completely vaccinated, all while mitigating the the spread within our community. We did all of that that because of the participation of each community member!
The support from our community has been instrumental. By standing by our community pledge, donating additional funds, and sticking with us through limited care hours you have kept Common Ground Childcare alive.
Even with all of that, however, COVID relief funding, specifically money set aside for child care centers, has been essential to our survival. In fact, the pandemic has brought the longstanding childcare crisis into the spotlight.
This weekend I attended (virtually) the NAEYC Public Policy Forum (read more about that here) and later this week I will be meeting with Gerry Connolly, Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine on the federal support that is necessary to recover from the pandemic (passing the $1.9T American Rescue Plan relief package that is to be voted on in the Senate this week that includes $39B set aside for childcare), and a sustainable and substantial investment into child care for the future (supporting/co-sponsoring the bipartisan Child Care for Working Families Act). I will make sure to keep you informed as Common Ground grows in our advocacy efforts!
Blood Drive this FRIDAY!
Common Ground is co-sponsoring, with St. Anne’s, the Inova Blood Drive that is happening here on Friday from 12-6pm.
To help make it easier for you, Common Ground will be open extended hours, from 4:30-6:30pm in exchange for a donation of Blood (or money)!
Register for the Blood Drive Here. There are only 7 appointments left!
You must SIGN UP in order order to leave your kids on Friday: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blood-drive
Say Thank You!
We are still treating our staff to coffee or lunch from time to time! Sign up here to get on the list! Sponsoring a “coffee” is about $100, and a lunch is between $200-250.
All you have to do is Sign Up! You will then get an email/invoice when it’s your turn for your tax deductible donation! And don’t forget to see if your company matches!
Alright! With that, please have a wonderful first week of March. We hope to see you at the blood drive this Friday!
Love,
Your CG Family
We are always DOING THINGS!
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