Parents, providers and agencies that administer child care subsidies have been on a rollercoaster ride since then Governor Schwarzenegger unexpectedly vetoed funding for CalWORKs Stage 3 child care when he signed the California budget on October 8th. Stage 3 child care funds help low income working families, who are now off welfare, pay for child care. Parents still pay a portion of their child care costs but they cannot afford to cover the full cost.

“Schwarzenegger does not understand the challenges of working families,” said Kate Ertz-Berger, Contra Costa Child Care Council Executive Director, when we first heard of the veto. “Cutting Stage 3 funding takes away the continuity of care and early education that gets children ready for school and puts their parents’ jobs at risk. It will hurt our community.”

“I can’t pay for child care without help from Stage 3. Half of my paycheck would go to child care. I don’t have any family to watch my three year old so I would have to choose between my child and my job. I may have to quit my job and go back on assistance. And I don’t want to do that,” said single mom Tamra Loomis from Pittsburg, who works full time.

Child care advocates worry about the health and safety of children who could be left alone while their parents work. The child care cuts also threaten the economic health of Contra Costa County.

“Researchers from Cornell University have determined that for every dollar invested in child care there is a $3.50 return to the community on that investment. The cuts to Stage 3 could cost Contra Costa County $49 million and the state of California approximately $1 billion,” says Ertz-Berger.

The outpouring of support in response to these cuts was tremendous. Parents, child care providers and the Parent

Voices advocacy group came out to events locally and travelled to Sacramento to talk about the impact of the cuts on their families and businesses. First 5 Contra Costa approved up to $2 million in forgivable, no-interest loans to provide transitional funding through January 31st and then extended the loans through March 2011. The First 5 funding supports children ages 0 to 5 years.

At the end of October, a group including Parent Voices Alameda County Chapter and four parents sued the state, which resulted in a judge’s order to extend Stage 3 child care payments through December 2010. Our local

Helping parents put the pieces together

Spring 2011

Child Care resourCes referrals health & NutritioN eduCatioN advoCaCy

early learning Conference on april 9

page 5

Gov. Brown’s Proposed Child Care Cuts

page 3

CoCoKids.org

page 2

“ I don’t have any family to watch my three year old so I would have to choose between my child and my job. I may have to quit my job and go back on assistance.

— Tamra Loomis single mother

east offices Consolidate

The Stage 3 Funding Rollercoaster Ride

— Continued on page 5

Antioch and Brentwood Offices Combined

at New Location

Vision • MissionContra Costa’s children

are nurtured, healthy and achieve their full potential. The Contra Costa Child Care Council provides leadership to promote

and advance quality care and early education.

Board of DirectorsBarbara Grillo-Selleck, President

Bence Gerber, Vice PresidentMary Johnson, SecretaryBarbara Piepho, Treasurer

Sue HouwelingKaren Lanfranki

Matt ReganTracy Teale

Janice TownsendAngeles Vallejo

Audit CommitteeJoshua BrownTom Lanfranki

Executive DirectorCatherine J. Ertz-Berger

Managing EditorSusan Shiu

EditorAnn Wright

Graphic DesignAbe Cruz

Established in 1976, the Contra Costa Child Care Council is a private, non-

profit organization. Through five Contra Costa offices, the Child Care

Council offers programs and services to support parents, families and

child care providers to give children the best care possible.

Administration (925) 676-5442

Richmond (510) 758-KIDY

Concord (925) 676-KIDS

Antioch (925) 778-KIDS

Web Site CoCoKids.org

Support the CouncilTo donate or volunteer,

contact Community Relations or visit our web site.

To SubscribeTo receive newsletters by e-mail,

visit e-Newsletters on www.cocokids.org.

To receive the print version, call Community Relations.

To reprint articles, contact Community Relations

(925) 676-5442

Congratulations to the following staff members who celebrated 20 or more years of service with the Child Care Council in the past year. We are grateful for their dedication to making life better for children and families.

“Our staff’s years of service say a lot about the integrity and dedication of our organization,” says Barbara Grillo-Selleck, President of the Council’s Board of Directors. “It shows that we believe our mission matters and care deeply about the well-being of children.”

The Child Care Council would like to recog-nize and honor the service of each and every one of our staff members.

30 years

PAULA JAMES Child Health & Nutrition Program Director

25 years

KATE ERTz-BERGER Executive Director

DEBRA BANUELOS Child Care Fund Payment Coordinator

22 years

RONDA GARCIA Deputy Director of Programs

20 years

D.D. CARSON East Area Director

DEBRA ENEA East Subsidy Team Supervisor

MARY ANN FERRERA Child Health & Nutrition Specialist

VICKIE MARTIN West Subsidy Team Supervisor

Over 20 Years of Service and Counting

executive director Kate ertz-Berger recently

celebrated 25 years at the Child Care Council.

To further reduce costs, the Child Care Council recently consolidated its Antioch and Brentwood offices. The new office is located at 5095 Lone Tree Way in the Venture Commerce Center in Antioch, and continues to serve the cities of Antioch, Bay Point, Brentwood, Byron, Discovery Bay, Oakley and Pittsburg.

Visit or call our new office:

5095 Lone Tree Way Antioch, CA 94531 Resource & Referral (925) 778-5437 Subsidy (925) 778-4450

Spring 2011 Bulletin | 3

Governor Brown’s 2011/2012 budget proposal includes a $750 million reduction in child development including elimination of child care subsidies for all 11- and 12-year-old children, reduction of the State Median Income (SMI) level from the current 75% to 60%, and a 35% across-the-board cut to programs without a corresponding reduction of child care slots.

The Governor’s proposed cuts are too high for the child care system to absorb. The cuts far exceed those being proposed for K–12 and higher education. Furthermore, cuts of this magnitude are likely to result in a complete collapse of the state child care delivery system—a system which is needed to support the economic recovery of California. Clearly, parents of young children need child care if they are to return to work.

The Governor’s proposed budget reductions are unworkable for low-income parents and child care providers. The proposal to increase the fees that low-income parents receiving subsidy pay for child care will price subsidized child care out of their reach. Many will be forced to give up their jobs and return to welfare, which in the long run will cost much more than child care assistance. With fewer children in child care, many family child care homes, preschools and child care centers could be forced to cut staff or even close their doors.

The Child Care Council agrees that in these extraordinarily difficult times child care should be part of any state budget solution. We recommend the following principles for determining reductions in child care funding to make the cuts more fair and equitable.

• TheLegislatureshouldfirstutilizeallavailableunspentchild development funds to mitigate the size of the reduction needed for 2011/2012.

• Contractsforchildcareanddevelopmentshouldbereduced across the board at a flat percentage, acknowl-edging that this would result in a loss of direct child care spaces but that it represents the best way to preserve the state’s child care delivery system.

• Thesereductionsshouldbespreadacrossallsubsidycontract types (State Preschool, General Child Care, CalWORKs Stage 2, CalWORKs Stage 3, Alternative Payment).

• Asappropriate,childcareprogramsshouldbeconsoli-dated to simplify the access to services for families.

Rather than creating new program policies during the budget process, these recommendations allow contractors to reduce their programs using policies already in place. If contractors know at the beginning of the fiscal year how much they need to cut, they can utilize case management strategies such as projecting attrition and freezing enroll-ments to achieve the needed reduction before removing families already receiving services. If it becomes necessary to reduce the number of families participating in subsidy programs, there is already an established process that requires programs to remove highest income families first, resulting in ongoing services to the neediest families.

By using the principles outlined above, we believe fair reductions can be made to the state child care delivery system that will preserve the system and provide as much assistance as possible to the neediest families.

Visit CoCoKids.org for the latest updates on the budget.

Budget&Legislative UpdateFinding Better Budget Solutions for Child Care

4 | CoCoKids.org

Over the past 14 years, the Child Care Council’s Learning Institute has been improving the quality of child care in Contra Costa by encouraging all child care providers to pursue professional development and achieve excel-lence in their care of young children. The newest effort, the Innovations in Quality (IQ) program, uses research-based techniques to further the work of improving the quality of early education for Contra Costa’s children.

Research shows that the first five years of a child’s life is when the foundation for literacy, social and emotional growth and physi-cal health is built. High quality early learning experiences have a profound effect on children during this critical time of development. Children who enter kindergarten with a solid foundation of skills are more likely to succeed in school.

Through a myriad of techniques, the IQ program helps early educators translate developmental and early education theory into real life practice. Facilitators develop individualized enhancement plans to direct the change process. Participating programs receive support and train-ing through one-on-one interactions with IQ facilitators, classroom coaches and consultants. Specialized trainings as well as assessment tools are available to identify areas for improvement. Video analysis may even be used to assess teacher-child interactions. Mini-grants for participating child care programs help enrich indoor and outdoor child care environments to make them more conducive to learning.

IQ offers three different levels of support based on assess-ment of each child care program’s needs and its readiness for quality improvement activities.

Quality in Early Learning, the first level, is a basic intro-duction to quality improvement that is fully funded by the U.S. Department of Education for the current fiscal year. Participating programs build the foundations essential to positive child development, including meeting health and safety best practices, learning how to engage families as partners, and understanding the different ways to support children’s learning.

“These providers are so interested and enthusiastic about making their programs better,” says Diana

Hanson, the facilitator for the Quality in Early Learning program. “We hope to get these programs ready for more in-depth quality improvement work.”

The second level, Quality Improvement, offers more in-depth consultation and support and is geared towards assisting eligible child care programs to qualify for Preschool Makes a Difference.

“These programs focus on the development of teacher skills that lead to higher quality interactions with children such as teacher sensitivity, how to use play effectively for learning and how to develop curriculum based on the children’s needs,” explains IQ Program Development Coordinator Rossnina Van Dort.

Programs that qualify for the highest level, Preschool Makes a Difference (PMD), already

meet many of the high standards for quality care. Eligible, low income families use their PMD scholarships to enroll their children in PMD child care programs so that they can have quality preschool experiences. PMD programs continue work on advanced teacher skills and sound business practices. Assessment tools and accountability measures are used to increase teacher effectiveness.

The Quality Improvement and PMD programs are a multi-year effort funded by First 5 Contra Costa and The Thomas J. Long Foundation.

There are currently 150 children on scholarship enrolled in 49 PMD child care programs through the Child Care Council. Our IQ facilitators work on quality improvement with a total of 72 programs and 161 teachers throughout Contra Costa County, which benefits over 1,100 children.

The goal for all the Innovations in Quality programs is to improve the early education experience for as many children as possible so that young children thrive, are successful in their child care setting and are then ready to do well in school.

For more information about the Innovations in Quality programs, please contact Rossnina Van Dort at (925) 676-5442 or IQ@cocokids.org.

Partnering with Child Care Professionals to Enhance the Quality of Care Innovations in Quality

Spring 2011 Bulletin | 5

Annual Early Learning Conference to Explore the Transition to Kindergarten

Parents and early childhood professionals are invited to join the Child Care Council for its 17th Annual Early Learning Conference on Saturday, April 9, 2011, at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. Exploring the Transition to Kindergarten addresses all aspects of insuring that young children move successfully into kindergarten.

Keynote speaker Jean Monroe, early childhood specialist and long-time diversity advocate, will discuss the beauty and challenge surrounding the diversity of children that show up ready to learn on the first day of kindergarten, and share ideas and philosophies for helping everyone—children, families and schools—make the transition a positive experience.

Over 30 workshops will be offered at the full day confer-ence and will focus on how families can help their child get ready for kindergarten, how preschool educators can foster the love of learning in children and how schools can prepare for the diverse array of five year olds entering kindergarten. Workshops will cover a wide range of topics including Revitalizing the Math Program at Your School, The Importance of Active Play for Learning and Development, and Screening for Developmental Delays in Preschool Children.

This year, for the first time, participants may choose to pay a reduced fee of $25 to attend the keynote and two morn-ing workshops. The full day conference fee of $40 includes the keynote, lunch and a full day of workshops.

Call (925) 676-5442, ext. 3105, for a copy of the conference brochure or visit CoCoKids.org for complete workshop descriptions and registration. Workshops will be available in English, Spanish and Farsi.

legislators unanimously supported the fight and joined many other California legislators to introduce Assembly Bill 1 and Senate Bill 12 on December 6th to reverse the veto and restore Stage 3 child care funding.

On January 10th of this year, Governor Brown introduced his proposed budget that included Stage 3 funding for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Perez is working with Brown’s administration to try to find funding that can be used until the new fiscal year.

The uncertainty is hard on everyone. The termination date for Stage 3 child care was extended three times during

October and November. Parents and providers often did not know until the last minute whether parents could continue to take their children to child care.

“The uncertainty caused havoc and heartache for families and their children who didn’t understand what was happening yet had to say goodbye to their caregivers and friends. This has certainly taken its toll on families as well as providers,” reports Ertz-Berger.

Check CoCoKids.org for the latest news on CalWORKs Stage 3 funding. Stage 3 parents and providers can call 1-800-281-8881 daily for updates in English and Spanish.

— Continued from page 1

17th AnnualEarly Learning Conference

Exploring the Transition to Kindergarten

The Stage 3 Funding Rollercoaster Ride

6 | CoCoKids.org

Thank you to all our donors! Contra Costa’s children benefit from all you do.

Donations acknowledged are from July 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011.

Corporate, Foundation, Business, Community and Government Donors

California Child Care Resource & Referral Network

California Department of Education – Child Development Division

California Department of Education – Nutrition Services Division

California Department of Public Health – Network for a Healthy California

Chevron CorporationChildtime Children’s

CenterCity of AntiochCity of ConcordCity of PittsburgCity of RichmondCity of Walnut CreekThe Concordia SchoolContra Costa County Community

Development DepartmentContra Costa County Employment

and Human Services DepartmentContra Costa County Health Services

DepartmentContra Costa Water DistrictCostco – ConcordThe East Bay Community FoundationFirst 5 Contra Costa Children and

Families CommissionHappy Family Day CareJenson Ornamental Metal DesignJustice, Justice FoundationKaiser PermanenteKaren’s Kiddos PreschoolKeller Canyon Mitigation FundsDean and Margaret Lesher

FoundationLevi Strauss FoundationThe J.M. Long FoundationOakland Athletics Community

Fund, TheRoss Stores, Inc.Small World Montessori SchoolSt. John Pre-School/Day Care CenterStep-by-Step MontessoriStepping Stones Learning CenterU.S. Department of EducationUnited WayVitamin Cases Consumer

Settlement FundWoodbridge Children’s Center

Individual DonorsAnonymousRegina AlexanderSharon AndersonYolanda ArellanoGina AzevedoDebbie BanuelosDavid and Mary BengstonJessica BenoEdward and Linda BestEla BetancourtAnthony and Angela BilichKimberly BordenAnge BurnettBetty A. ButlerNorma Carlson

Lucia CarmazziDeanna CarmonaDD CarsonCecilia ChanCynthia ChavezLai C. ChiuLupita ClarkDawn ConantJames and Juanita CopeElizabeth CortezMaria Cruz-EncarnacionNancy CunyJoAnn DoanCandy DuperroirJulie DuronElizabeth ElsasserDebra EneaCatherine J. Ertz-BergerMary Ann FerreraMaria FortDanielle FournierMarilyn M. FowlerJoanne FuntilaKarla GandaroRonda GarciaKatie GendronBence GerberAlexis GillesBarbara GoodsonDonna GreenBarbara Grillo-SelleckCecilia HallKathi HamiltonSharilyn K. HamiltonDiana HansonErica Harland

Miwa Hashimoto in honor of Mo Satcher

Nancy HerbertDee HermanRosa HernandezNina HinmanSharon HolmesJanet HoodSue HouwelingSkip and Nancy HuttonRoberto IbarraWill IngramPaula JamesChristine JensenMary JohnsonMonica Joseph

Remi KajopaiyeKollette KeeMae Lee KelleyLinda KildayLeslie E. KirkwoodDavid KurtzmanJulie KurtzmanKaren LanfrankiPaul and Katherine Larsen

in honor of Ann WritghtEd LeeKitty LenhartEva LiangPalay LimIngrid LittlejohnLinda LunaGloria Madrigal-PoncePaul and Lee MaierSimonette ManansalaVickie MartinMarcia MassaCindy McMurryAndrew McTigheCarla MedinaVeronica Medina-MezaMichelle MerrymanRichard MleczkoJeffrey and Geneva MossTracy MuldrowAraceli NavarroDenisse PadillaTiresa PaopaoElizabeth Perot

Jay PerryHarvey Peters IIIEric PetersonBarbara PiephoParvin PourasefYvonne ProughDee PuseyVimala RajakarierClarissa RamirezJamie RandolphMatt ReganVanessa RezosVirginia RichardsonMichelle RobertsonStacie RoundtreeBianca SalcedoCarmina SalcedoDina SamaniegoLaurie Sanchez-MartinezBrittany SantiagoSusan SantiagoMaureen SatcherCecilia SequeriaEd and Laurie ShafferMona ShirkSusan ShiuBeryl SnyderFernando and Miriam Solano-RiveraLakshmi SreenivasanCatherine StaffordRobert StearnsCheryl StewartGreg StroupPatricia Tate-CamachoDenishia TaylorTracy TealeChareshma ThadaniCorean ToddPetia TodorovaJanice TownsendAngeles VallejoRossnina Van DortVirginia VoelkelMargaret Wiegert JacobsLenisha Williams-BekheetJudy WilsonJennifer WinnElsie WittAnn WrightNaomi zipkinShirley zuorski

Every effort is made to acknowledge all of our donors. If there is a misspelling or omission, please accept our apologies and contact us at (925) 676-5442 to have your name included in the next publication.

Thank You to Our Champions for Children!

Thank YouWith your support, we are creating healthy and enriching child care environments for our children.

Spring 2011 Bulletin | 7

To participate and for more details, contact:

Candy Duperroir Parent Voices Coordinator

Contra Costa Chapter (925) 778-5437

Thank you, funders! All children in Contra Costa County benefit from the support of our generous funders.

California Child Care Resource & Referral Network continues to support Parent Voices, Contra Costa’s advo-cacy efforts on behalf of children and families.

Chevron Corporation and the Justice, Justice Foundation have provided greatly appreciated general operating funds.

East Bay Community Foundation has further funded the Child Care Council’s efforts to improve the quality of child care in Contra Costa County.

Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation is continuing to provide crucial general operating support with a new three-year grant.

The J.M. Long Foundation is supporting Early Start to Success, a Child Care Council program that aims to increase early education services to families.

Funders Help UsServe Families

A New Mom’s Search for Child Care

As a new mom and corporate employee, Nyisha had to find child care for her young daughter, Nia. With no idea where to start, she felt intimidated by the thought of leaving her child with someone else. After hearing about the Child Care Council, she called for our free help. Our Resource & Referral Counselor provided guidance about the search process along with a list of licensed providers. After the consultation, Nyisha felt confident in her ability to find the right child care for Nia and she did. Now while she is at work, she knows that Nia is being nurtured in child care.

Read more stories and learn about our successful impact on children and families in our 2010 Annual Report available on CoCoKids.org.

Subscribe to Our E-BulletinGet the latest updates and help us reduce costs by subscribing to the electronic version of our Bulletin. We also publish the Parent E-News and the Child Care E-News that are only available via e-mail. To subscribe, click on E-Newsletters on our website.

Nyisha holds her daughter, Nia.

Annual Stand for Children Day

Wednesday, May 4, 2011Join parents, providers and other child care supporters who care about every child’s right to quality, affordable,

accessible child care for a day of advocacy, testimony and celebration at the Capitol in Sacramento.

1035 Detroit AvenueConcord, CA 94518

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Service & Excellence 1976–2011

Recruit Staff through Our Child Care Job Bank

As the economy starts to pick up, you may need to recruit staff for your child care center, preschool or family child care home. The Council’s Child Care Job Bank connects Contra Costa child care employers with the people who want to teach and care for children.

The cost is $25 per two-week job listing for employers. The service is FREE for job seekers.

For more information, contact Ann Wright at (925) 676-5442, ext. 3102, or ann.wright@cocokids.org.

Visit the Child Care Job Bank: http://www.cocokids.org/job-opportunities/job-bank

Our Services free child care referrals

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Child health, nutrition & safety education

Provider training & development

Public education & advocacy