Council CEO Recognized with Statewide Friend of Family Child Care Award

Child Care Council Inc. CEO Barbara-Ann Mattle has been recognized with a statewide award from the Family Child Care Association of New York State (FCCANYS).

At the recent FCCANYS annual conference, Mattle was honored with the 2018 Friend of Family Child Care Award. She received the award in recognition of her 34 years of supporting family child care development and of her work to enhance the quality of family child care, both locally and nationally. The award also highlighted the numerous educational-program presentations Mattle has given at the association’s annual conferences.

“It is quite an honor to receive this year’s Friend of Family Child Care Award from FCCANYS,” Barbara-Ann Mattle said. “I accepted the award on behalf of the entire Child Care Council leadership team and staff, who work with me to improve the quality and increase the quantity of child care in our region.”

NAFCC honors Council with Accreditation Facilitation Project of the Year award

Child Care Council Inc.’s work to support child care providers has been recognized with a national award.

The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) recently presented its Accreditation Facilitation Project of the Year award to the Council for its success in helping nine Latino child care providers to earn their Child Development Associate degree and in developing high quality programs that have earned them NAFCC accreditation. The program’s results actually increased the number of accredited family child care providers in Rochester by 900 percent. The program has now been expanded to include family child care providers from throughout our community.

“All of us at Child Care Council are extremely proud to receive this national recognition,” said Barbara-Ann Mattle, Child Care Council CEO. “This award is a testament not only to our talented Latino services team but to all of our Council staff for the work they do, each and every day, to help child care providers expand their education and enhance the quality of their work with young children. It is our hope that it will also encourage other communities to embrace this quality initiative as a path to the top of their state quality rating systems for family child care providers.”

“This award recognizes Child Care Council for the success of this project, but it also highlights the heart displayed by Council leadership and staff to have a positive impact on providers’ lives,” said Dawn Cramer, accreditation operations manager, NAFCC.

Pictured (from left to right): Hector Santiago; Council CEO Barbara-Ann Mattle; Linda Schumacher, NAFCC accreditation council chair; provider Carmen Gonzalez; Lynne Fisher; Ed Maier; and provider Juanita Sanchez.

Child Care Council Inc. is introducing a new program to give away free books to children of all ages.

Through Books 4 Fun, a collaborative program with the Rochester Public Library, the Council will provide free, gently used books to children in four ways:

– Council staff will distribute the books to legally exempt, family child care homes, school-age child care programs and child care centers during site visits and inspections
– Providers visiting Child Care Council can take a free book for each child in their care
– Children visiting Council offices can take a free book home. In the Rochester office (595 Blossom Road, Suite 120), the books are located in the front office reception area, in the consultation/computer room, and in the Kid Zone in the Repurpose and More Store.
– Council employees also will distribute free books at various community events

The Rochester Public Library is donating books for the program, and it has donated more than 2,000 books to date. Each book includes a Books 4 Fun program sticker with a space for each child to write his or her name as the owner of the book. The Council also is accepting donations of new or gently used children’s books at all its offices.

“Books 4 Fun is at the heart of what Child Care Council is all about – promoting early childhood education and preparing children for the future,” said Barbara-Ann Mattle, Child Care Council CEO. “This collaboration with the Rochester Public Library, focused primarily on children in the city of Rochester, will help ensure that more kids are reading books.”

“Giving books to children and their parents helps parents understand that their children love books at a very young age,” said Shelley Matthews, Rochester Literacy Coordinator, Book Angel Project, Rochester Public Library. “Reading is important to all children’s futures. The Book Angel Project has brought more than two million books into the homes of Rochester’s children.”

The Books 4 Fun program is kicking off first in Rochester and Monroe County, and it will be extended to the Council’s Livingston County (Lakeville) and Wayne County (Newark) branch offices over time. This program builds off the Council’s existing My First Library, which was established in 2001 with financial support from Council volunteer and supporter Joan Frazier. Frazier has been instrumental in working with Council staff to plan and coordinate the Books 4 Fun program as well.

Child Care Council has been selected to receive a Community Health Award from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

The award will help fund the Council’s Asthma Friendly Child Care Endorsement initiative, which trains child care programs in Monroe, Wayne and Livingston counties on ways to safely provide care to children with asthma.

Child Care Council is one of nine Monroe County-based nonprofits chosen from among 200 applications to receive an Excellus BCBS Community Health Award. The awards were announced during a news conference on April 20, 2017.

Child Care Council Inc. has hired Abdirahman Osman Hussein as a Somali and Swahili support specialist.

In this role, Hussein will provide language-translation and support services to better link the Council and its programs with the Somali- and Swahili-speaking communities. He previously served as a community worker for GTZ Uganda in Uganda, East Africa, where he worked with people with special needs and with single parents with disabilities.

Abdirahman Osman Hussein holds certifications from the American Refugee Committee, German International Corporation and United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

New York is participating in an early childhood professional development opportunity designed to support the social and emotional development of children birth through five. The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) has developed a conceptual framework of evidence-based practices for promoting young children’s social and emotional competence and for preventing and addressing challenging behavior. The Pyramid Model includes extensive training materials, videos, and print resources to help New York’s programs and providers implement the model.

The modules are appropriate for professional development of providers, administrators, and teachers/caregivers who work with infants, toddlers and preschoolers (aged birth – 5 years of age). Each module is a whole day training (6-7 hours) although modules can be broken up into shorter training over a period of several days if preferred. Modules should be completed in order as concepts built upon each other.

You can see descriptions of the models by clicking the following. IT info Pyramid Flyer    Preschool Info Pyramid Flyer

If you are interested in more information about how to bring the Pyramid Model to your program, please contact Rose Shufelt, Master Cadre trainer, at 585-654-4740 or [email protected]. You can also find out more information about the model at http://www.nysecac.org/news-and-events/pyramid-model/

Child Care Council Inc., a nonprofit agency working to improve child care quality, announced today that a recent donation from the Monroe County Democratic Committee will support first aid and CPR provider training.

Last month, the Monroe County Democratic Committee announced it will donate $5,250 to the Council. The Council’s board of directors and management team has decided to put these funds toward first aid and CPR training for enrolled legally exempt providers who serve low-income working families. This enhanced training is currently not required for legally exempt providers.

“Child Care Council greatly appreciates the Monroe County Democratic Committee’s generous contribution,” said Child Care Council CEO Barbara-Ann Mattle. “Our nonprofit agency is dedicated to ensuring the highest quality care for children in our community. These new funds will enable us to train more child care providers in first aid and CPR and to help ensure safe environments for the children in their care.”

The first aid and CPR training is expected to begin in early summer.

Child Care Council Inc. has been awarded $68,000 in annual grant funding for up to five years from the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities to provide a behavior support program in child care settings in Monroe and Wayne counties.

These grant funds enable Child Care Council to serve children with developmental disabilities who are exhibiting challenging behavior that may affect their placement in a licensed, registered or legally exempt child care program. The Council will provide free, on-site, intensive technical assistance to help implement positive behavior strategies and to increase provider understanding of a child’s behavioral needs. In addition, the Council will work with providers to develop customized plans that will benefit the child and enhance their positive experience in child care. Providers can benefit from up to 15 hours of technical assistance per child.

“A recent Child Care Council survey revealed that 50 percent of providers have a child with special needs in their programs and 79 percent of providers have experienced behavior challenges while working with children with disabilities,” said Child Care Council CEO Barbara-Ann Mattle. “We are grateful to the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities for this funding, which will enable us to provide hands-on support to providers to help improve the level of care for children with disabilities.”

Mattle noted that this latest grant funding also expands on the special-needs services currently provided by the Council, such as free, enhanced child care referrals to parents who have a child with a developmental disability.

Behavioral Training Series
As part of the grant, Child Care Council also is offering a behavioral training series to inform providers about special-education laws and how to assist the families they serve. The three-part class series will cover 1) how the Americans with Disabilities Act pertains to a provider’s program when working with children with disabilities; 2) research-based intervention strategies to address challenging behaviors; and 3) how to identify the differences between a “meltdown” and a tantrum.

Upcoming class dates are as follows:

-Rochester: March 12 and 19, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

-Rochester: May 23 and 25, and June 1, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

-Newark, Wayne County: June 13, 20 and 27, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

While the technical assistance is available to providers at no charge, a fee of $30 is required for the class series. For more information about the training series or about the behavior support program, child care providers can contact Kristen Torkelsen, special needs advisor at Child Care Council, at 585.654.1224 or at [email protected].

Vroom project is a Bezos Family Foundation initiative

Child Care Council Inc. has been chosen as one of only 10 sites across the country to participate in a healthy child brain development project.

Child Care Aware® of America selected the Council as part of a national network of communities and organizations activating Vroom, a Bezos Family Foundation initiative that is helping parents nationwide promote brain development in children from birth to five years old. Child Care Council and other participating sites – part of Child Care Aware of America’s nationwide Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) network – will use Vroom to bolster its current work with families.

Vroom provides interactive tools and resources that highlight the science behind early brain development, showing parents how they can turn activities like bath time and mealtime into opportunities that build their children’s brains. This partnership is particularly exciting in its ability to facilitate a far-reaching culture shift − one that begins with parents understanding early brain development and extends into how families, providers, businesses, and communities all work to support brain development during the first five years of life.

“Child Care Council is pleased to be selected as one of the 10 sites in the nation to participate in this outstanding Vroom project,” said Child Care Council CEO Barbara-Ann Mattle. “Through Vroom, we will help nurture parent-child interaction and educate parents about brain-building messages, both of which are critical to healthy child brain development.”

“We’re thrilled to see such a diverse mix of child care programs and providers integrating Vroom,” said Jackie Bezos, president and co-founder of the Bezos Family Foundation. “More than 11 million children under the age of five are in some form of child care. It is one of the most important decisions a parent can make. This partnership will help strengthen the relationship between child care providers and families by putting brain-building language and tools at the center of both environments.”

Other sites selected for Vroom include: Childcare Resources Birmingham (Alabama); Child Care Aware® of West Central Arkansas; Child Care Resource Center (California); Florida Office of Early Learning; Child Care Resources Inc. (Montana); Southern New Hampshire Services Child Care Resource and Referral; Capital District Child Care Coordinating Council Inc. (Albany); Child Care Connection, a program of Info Line Inc. (Ohio); and Corporation of Ohio Appalachian Development.

About Child Care Council Inc.
Child Care Council Inc. (childcarecouncil.com) is a comprehensive parent-referral, adult-education and community-resource agency working to improve the quality of child care. A Child Care Aware® Quality Assured agency, the Council provides information, training and resources to child care providers and parents in Monroe, Livingston and Wayne counties. The non-profit agency offers coordinated services to support child care programs, including a professional library, referral services, free notary public, fingerprinting waivers, reduced-cost business services, and a resource/recycle shop (Repurpose & More Store).

About Child Care Aware® of America
Child Care Aware of America is our nation’s leading voice for child care. We work with state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other community partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. To achieve our mission, we lead projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate for child care policies that improve the lives of children and families. To learn more, visit usa.childcareaware.org. Follow us on Twitter @USAChildcare and on Facebook at facebook.com/usachildcare.

About Bezos Family Foundation
The Bezos Family Foundation is a private, independent foundation established by Jackie and Mike Bezos, who along with their children and spouses, serve as directors. Their vision is that all young people are prepared to achieve their full potential and make a meaningful contribution to society. The Bezos Family Foundation supports rigorous, inspired learning environments for young people, from birth though high school, to put their education into action. Through investments in research, public awareness, and programs, the foundation works to elevate the field of education and improve life outcomes for all children. Follow Vroom on Twitter @joinvroom and on Facebook at facebook.com/joinvroom.