When the pandemic struck, early childhood programs found themselves in dire straits. With fluctuating enrollments, mortgages to pay, and children to care for, the future of childcare seemed unpredictable. Read about how Nebraska Children’s expert early childhood team worked with providers and owners of early childhood programs like Cory Quimby to ensure they could see through to the end of the pandemic.
As we move into a new Nebraska, we envision childcare providers AND children thriving in every way possible.
Whether you’re a believer in fate, divine intervention, or hard work, Adams County Communities for Kids blends these elements. Find out how patience and faith created the perfect childcare center at the perfect time. Read more.
Welcome to Wood River, Nebraska. Their Communities for Kids (C4K) core team is proud to announce the opening of their childcare center, Stick Creek Kids. But like most dreams, the team hasn’t always walked on a smooth path. But rather than backing down, they embarked on the challenging road. Together, with the help of their community, the center’s doors will open. Read more about how this community accomplished this remarkable feat.
What do a Needs Assessment, a Zoom meeting, and developmental videos have in common? And, no, this is not the set up for a joke. The answer, collaboration. In a recent Preschool Development Grant Nebraska Leadership Team meeting, Buffett Early Childhood Institute consultant Hallie Duke designed breakout sessions for participants to spend a few minutes discussing the ways in which their aims aligned.
Long before COVID, Ord has proven to be a place of reinvention. Most recently, one of the town’s most pressing projects has been to address the childcare scarcity. Some of the women behind this effort are Loup Valley Childhood Initiative core leaders and Ord residents, Melani Flynn, Katie Walmsley, and Kristina Foth. Read more about how these women and their community work to create quality childcare.
Many professionals, especially those who work in early childhood education and care, but also teachers of every age tend to shoulder a tremendous amount of responsibility. You walk into a classroom, make decisions, then hope that you did the right things. The truth is, no matter how skilled, every talented professional will occasionally feel alone or overwhelmed. These are the moments when the Early Childhood Professional Learning Series can help. Read more about early care providers Arlie Herrick and Dee Coble’s experiences in participating in the Series.
Although our lives are flooded with information, for many working parents, one worry looms large on a Sunday night: who can care for their children when they go to work? This concern is neither a lullaby nor a bedtime story but instead a keep-you-awake-at-night concern, particularly for rural Nebraskan parents.
“When can you have a baby?”
This is the question that Becca Paulsen will ask her childcare provider when Becca is thinking about having a second child.
This leads us to our next question:
How do young parents find childcare in homey, comfortable, close-knit small towns?
Read on.
In 2015, when Boone County, Nebraska was considering plans to address their childcare shortage, Jay Wolf, and other Boone County Foundation Fund (BCFF) core team members, said, “We know we have a childcare shortage; we need solutions, but we’re not interested in building a center.”
Five years later, the team broke ground for Boone Beginnings, their early care center.
So, how did this happen? Read on.
Growing the Good Life 