Child Care Blog

Child Care Providers...Thank You!

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:17:00 GMT

Some of the many reasons we are grateful for our child care providers...

Proposed Rules and Public Comment: You Have a Voice in Final Federal Regulations

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:25:00 GMT

Let’s play a quick game. I say “CACFP Federal Regulations” and then you think “____________.” Did that blank space involve an eye-roll and maybe even a “#&$%?” I think if you participate in the food program at some point the mere mention of “regulations” will bring about a flurry of a heartbeat and a negative thought. I have a question for you though, did you know that you have a say in those final rules that you ultimately have to follow? Well, you do! Once a rule/regulation has been proposed there is a period of time in which public comment is encouraged and accepted

Tags: Sponsors,CACFP

Category: Sponsors

Category: USDA

Category: Child and Adult Care Food Program

Child Care and The Congressional Budget – Webinar Summary

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:35:00 GMT

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a free webinar presented by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) which is in the process of changing its name to Child Care Aware, America.

The webinar was about the federal budget process and how it specifically affects the child care industry. Grace Reef the Chief of Policy and Evaluation gave the webinar and explained, in an easy to understand way, how the federal budget process is directly affecting child care and what we might do to make a difference.

Prior to a brief overview of what she covered and then links to her powerpoint and the recording, I wanted to draw your attention to your role in making a difference.

Do you feel like your one call or email isn’t going to make a difference? I usually do too but then Ms. Reef explained what happens with our letters and phone calls. Our representative’s offices are required to log ALL of the calls/emails/letters about any given advocacy topic. The representative gets a digest of these correspondences for ALL of the different issues going on. The more messages (email/calls/letters) about our topic the better the chances are to be in the top three issues that the representative will pay attention to. So we have a goal! Let’s get our issues top billing as the first three on the representative's list! Our one phone call, email or letter does in fact make a difference! You can hear Ms. Reef explain this in the webinar recording.

Brief Bullets of what Ms. Reef covered and you can view on the recorded webinar.

The August Debt Limit law, the automatic cuts of 1.2 trillion dollars (over the next 10 years) if there is no action taken or agreement made by congress and the house by January 2013. She explained how this works and what may or may not happen depending on the house and the congress agreeing on something different.
President Obama’s budget proposes a $4 trillion deficit reduction over 10 years provides an alternative to across the board cuts and early education fares relatively well but there are over 200 programs cut in this proposal. The budget plan increases child care by $825 million and increases Head Start by about $84 million.
Senator Ryan’s Budget was approved by the House in March. It has $19 billion more in cuts. Huge cuts in the domestic spending area including block grants for Food Stamps and Medicaid.
The House and the Senate are not in sync as they should be according to congressional rules.
Ms. Reef explains how the House is pushing through the Ryan Budget even though Congress has not come to a budget resolution with the House. The White House says no way, it will not sign off on the Ryan budget, however the House Agriculture committee and the House Ways and Means Committee are having to act now to decrease the deficit for these programs.
- This means that the House Agriculture Committee has approved legislation that cuts SNAP by over $33 billion over the next 10 years. 280 million children lose necessary meals.
- Also affected: the House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation that would cut $53 billion over the next 10 years which includes eliminating the Social Services Block Grant (Title XX). This affects state health care plans and the child tax credit.
Cuts are looming in January and it seems as though there is a little game being played by the House and the Senate. They are not making progress at this time.
Need increased revenue and people need to pay their fair share.
In the absence of revenues cuts are deep
What can you do? Be engaged, take action, what you do matters.

View the powerpoint of Congressional Budget Update
View the recorded webinar (you have to register but it’s free)

More ...

Tags: Providers,Teachers,Parents,Associations,Child Care

Category: Providers

Category: Early Childhood Education

Category: Parents

Category: Teachers

Week of the Young Child

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:54:00 GMT

The Week of the Young Child™ begins April 22, 2012. NAEYC has all the information you need to get started. If it's too late to begin planning for this year, start for next year!

Tags: Providers,Teachers,Parents,Associations,Child Care

Category: Providers

Category: Early Childhood Education

Category: Sponsors

Category: Parents

Category: Teachers

Child Care Learning Center Launched

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:50:00 GMT

Learning opportunities directed toward the child care professional are not lacking, but sometimes it can be hard to find those perfect learning opportunities or maybe you just don’t have time to look. ChildCareInfo.com has just made that process easier for you! Find out how the Learning Center can help you!

Tags: Providers,Teachers,Parents,Associations,Child Care

Category: Providers

Category: Sponsors

Category: Parents

Category: Teachers

Using Technology to Create Classroom Projects

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:28:00 GMT

Heard of Picnik or Faceinhole.com? Find out how you can use these two sites to set up projects for your classroom!

Marketing Without Social Media - Child Care Centers and Homes

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:29:00 GMT

Recently there has been a big push toward marketing with social media, which I have been and will continue to be a big part of. Last weekend, at the National Child Care Association (NCCA) conference, I was in a session with Kris Murray, which focused on a different kind of marketing: strengthening relationships with the parents of the children in your care. Kris also encourages social media marketing but this particular session didn't address social media. Kris defines marketing as the process of getting and keeping customers.

This workshop focused on retaining your current parents as part of your marketing strategy. Strategically consider your retention rates, know why families leave your program, and realize how cost effective it is to keep your current families.

Kris mentioned that the lifetime value of one family could range from $20,000 to $60,000. She then shared a calculation tool that helps you figure out the monetary value of each family in your care. There is a potential of a lot of money on the table every time a family leaves your care. The question is: how do you stop this from happening? Market to your current families, retaining these families can make it so you don’t have to find as many new families as well as help you get new families.

Here are some ways to strengthen what Kris calls the "loyalty fence" with your current parents:

Over communicate
* Email photos of children or their artwork
* Have daily special touches during drop off and pick up – donuts, apples, coffee or make them laugh on the way out the door
* Don’t forget about those families that have graduated, continue to mail them the monthly newsletter.

Make them feel special, even like local celebrities
* Feature a family of the month
* Have a parent advisory board
* Raise money for a favorite charity of the parent
* Feature the successes of the graduated families in newsletters

Create a connection to you

How do you leverage these relationships you have established with your current families to help you find new families? Referral rewards programs and a testimonial systems. Kris had many great suggestions and examples of how you might want to go about instituting a referral rewards program and testimonial system. Her contact information is below.

While you are considering your marketing plan, don’t forget to consider how to go about strengthening that “loyalty fence” and retaining your current families with that strategy.

More about Kris Murray: Kris has a book, published by RedLeaf Press called The Ultimate Child Care Marketing Guide and has been named one of America’s Top Business Coaches for Centers. She hosts free webinars on Early Childhood Investigations. You can find out more about her specialties, free resources and consulting program here.

Kris's Book:

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Tags: Providers,Teachers,Preschool

Category: Providers

Category: Early Childhood Education

When You Fail: Accept it, Learn from it and Find the Opportunity Created by it

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:52:00 GMT

I attended the National Child Care Association conference (NCCA) this weekend and was struck by an accidental but consistent theme by many of the presenters.

The presenters’ successes were embedded in stories of:

Taking Risks
Facing Their Fear of Failure
Adjusting When they Did Fail
Honoring Failures
Being Resilient and Learning to Let Go

Tags: Providers,Teachers,Parents,Associations,Child Care

Singing, Marketing, Legislative Bills, and Competition

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:59:00 GMT

The National Child Care Association Leadership conference is in full swing. Get a glimpse of some of the things these private sector child care centers are talking and learning about.

Singing, Marketing, Legislative Bills, Competition and Accepting Failure

childcareinfo@minutemenu.com — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:59:00 GMT

The National Child Care Association Leadership conference is in full swing. Get a glimpse of some of the things these private sector child care centers are talking and learning about.