Local Group’s Efforts Selected for Wisconsin Top Rural Development Initiative Honors
The Wisconsin Early Education Shared Services Network (WEESSN), launched in Vernon and Monroe Counties, has been selected to receive the 2020 Wisconsin Top Rural Development Initiative award, one of two awards presented in 2020 by the Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. The presentation was made at a private ceremony following the cancellation of the Wisconsin Rural Summit due to COVID-19.
Unless…
This last piece has not come easy and has taken MANY rewrites. I have felt unsure how to close out something that is far from being over. At one point, I was holding out hope that by mid-August, we would be celebrating the $50B relief package this industry needs. But to be honest, it still feels far from that time and I am feeling demoralized. While Americans across the political spectrum agree that the federal government should fund early care and education to a larger extent, congress has not been successful in getting this done.
The Un System of Early Care and Education
by Paula Drew, WEESSN Co-Director I often struggle with how to present the injustices within the early care and education (ECE) sector without making early educators sound like victims because they are anything but. However, inadequate financing of child...
It’s Not Daycare
by Paula Drew, Co-Director, Wisconsin Early Education Shared Services Network This post is the fourth in the series, Uncovering Stories from the Early Care and Education Field During the COVID-19 Pandemic, based on in-depth interviews of child care providers across...
Unprecedented Support in Unprecedented Times: WECA’s Response During COVID-19
Because “small lives get bigger”, our mission at WECA is to advance positive change for children by focusing on the professionals who provide child care for well over 70% of Wisconsin’s children. We truly believe that quality early care and education is fundamental to creating a better world. Our work to support this sector and the children and families who intersect with it has always been comprehensive. During the pandemic, WECA’s staff stepped up to support Wisconsin’s system of early care and education in unprecedented ways.
Remember Wisconsin’s Child Care Programs … Please!
Governor Evers just announced significant support to distribute PPE to schools, specifically 2 million masks and 4,200 infrared thermometers. While I fully support ensuring our schools open safely for children, teachers, and staff, I must ask, “What about our state’s child care programs? Where are their masks and thermometers?”
A Weary Workforce; Child Care Work Gets More Complex Every Day
This post is the third in the series, Uncovering Stories from the Early Care and Education Field During the COVID-19 Pandemic, based on in-depth interviews of child care providers across Wisconsin. Economists and the world’s best neuroscientists agree, early life...
Impossible Choices
This post is the second in the series, Uncovering Stories from the Early Care and Education Field During the COVID-19 Pandemic, based on in-depth interviews of child care providers across Wisconsin.
Uncovering Stories from the Early Care and Education Field During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A new series which explores the challenges of our essential workforce.
Over the next two months, through a series of blog posts, I will explore the hidden stories from this field. Through confidential interviews and themes from a number of child care provider communication platforms and policy maker and advocate forums, I will lift up the challenges, needs, fears, hopes and future plans of our essential workforce during the pandemic. I will highlight needs that agencies and advocates could consider in creating a better support system for future crises.
WECA’s Statement on Equity
Because the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA) exists to support the wellbeing of young Wisconsin children and our early education workforce, we strongly assert that Black Lives Matter. We all hold responsibility for addressing police brutality, dismantling systematic racism, and equalizing power in our United States. We understand that now is the time to re-imagine what kind of America we want for our children and grandchildren — an America where all children in all communities can live safely – free of bias, discrimination, and racism.