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.
Early childhood professionals are at risk for developing compassion fatigue due to the demanding nature of their everyday work which is now paired with the stress caused by the pandemic. Not only are early childhood professionals effected in their own lives by the threat of COVID, but they also must care for children and families experiencing a wide range of effects, such as lost jobs, unstable housing, or isolation from family and friends. If you or someone you know is suffering from compassion fatigue, here are some definitions and coping tips.
Sixpence in Macy, Nebraska, and their community are a perfect example of a group of resilient people who pull together through the storm. The Shinga Zhinga Child Development Center serves the community. The Center is located on the UmonHon reservation and primarily serves teenage parents, community members, and high school staff members. Thanks to Sixpence, the program director Lacey Sateren, said she has witnessed remarkable developments throughout the past year, even during the height of the pandemic. Read some incredible achievements thanks to resilient families, Umonhon Nation Public Schools and Sixpence!
Nebraska childcare providers are making headlines. Today, we bring you a success story from Buffalo County’s Rooted in Relationships initiative and a provider named Rachel Pierce, the owner of Creative Kids Child Care. Today, Rachel will share the benefits and perks of being part of Rooted in Relationships (Rooted), which is one of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s Early Childhood initiatives.
Alliance, Nebraska’s Sixpence is glad to share a story of a young family’s success. The family started off dealing with some struggles. The father had grappled with a drug addiction, had been incarcerated, and had a child from a previous marriage with whom he’d not had a relationship during her early years. How did his strength, resiliency, resolve, and a little help from Sixpence support him in his positive transformation? Read more.
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.
From the recipient of Sixpence home visits to becoming a young mom, then a home visitor, read Yesenia’s uplifting story.
The former retail space that houses the Early Learning Academy (ELA) in Lexington, Nebraska, may seem like an unusual setting for innovation in early childhood education, but this preschool program that serves children 3 to 5 years old houses such proactive initiatives as an early intervention program for special needs students and a migrant community classroom to serve English language learners.
Four years ago, a frightened, pregnant 16-year-old walked through Fremont Sixpence’s doors. Lauren said that in addition to being scared, the young woman was disconnected from her relatives.
Read about how this young mother’s resolve and Fremont Sixpence helped her to push through difficulties and into her own triumphant light.
