News & Research

The Learning Policy Institute recently shared a blog post written by Research Analyst and Policy Advisor, Hanna Melnick. The post shares important information about why high quality child care is important for healthy development and the economy with telling statistics that reveal how fragile our child care system really is. Check out this article to find few highlights.

The Small Business Administration has just issued an application and instructions on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness. In this post you will find the application and instructions for borrowers. 

NAEYC recently published an article addressing some big concerns for child care professionals who are looking at reopening as shelter-in-place orders are lifted. The article notes that “our nation’s early childhood education programs have been navigating structural cracks and financial cliffs for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic has made these cracks and cliffs unavoidable, putting our programs into free fall. If our economy is to recover, it will require a reimagined approach to financing and structuring the systems that support high-quality child care.”

An article published in The Almanac on May 6, written by Angela Schwartz, shares personal accounts from local early learning professionals who are desperately trying to make ends meet as COVID-19 continues. The article highlights the thin margins and other struggles experienced by early learning programs well before the pandemic, noting that operating has become increasingly difficult as shelter-in-place orders have continued.

Marketplace recently shared a telling article about the struggles of parents and child care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article shares personal stories of parents who are making tough decisions about how to support their children’s caregivers. While, caregivers who are hoping to re-open when shelter in place orders are lifted, have had to survive on fractions of their typical income.

Spring 2020 Quarterly Updates have been published and are available on the Community Care Licensing website. This edition focuses on the current COVID-19 Pandemic and highlights the resources you will find helpful during these challenging times.

On April 30th, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new portal to help parents, including essential workers and vulnerable families, find safe, reliable and accessible child care options. By typing in their zip code, families will be able to see childcare centers and homes that are currently open, their capacity, licensing history, and other useful information for choosing care. 

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University recently shared an infographic that explains the basics of what COVID-19 is, and what it can mean for stress levels in both children and the adults who care for them. It offers solutions to help caregivers ensure that both they and the children they care for don’t experience long-term effects of stress, and also explains how all of us as a society can work to ensure the health and wellbeing of all our fellow community members, both now and in the future. 

Do you own or work in a child care program that has been open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you having trouble finding the supplies necessary to keep your business open? Community Care Licensing recently shared guidelines for how programs that are open for emergency child care can approach stores to make bulk purchases and order critical supplies.

Looking for more information and support in navigating SBA loan options? NAEYC recently hosted a webinar entitled, Paying Yourself, Your Staff, and Your Bills: Helping Child Care Programs Understand and Navigate SBA Loan Options. A recording and slides from the webinar are available on the NAEYC website in English and in Spanish. 
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¿Buscando más información y apoyo para navegar las opciones de préstamos de SBA? La NAEYC presentó recientemente un Webinar llamado Páguese, pague a su personal y pague sus cuentas: Ayudando a los Programas de Cuidados Infantiles a entender y navegar las opciones de préstamos del SBA. La grabación y las diapositivas del Webinar están disponibles en la página Web de NAEYC en íngles y en español. 

As COVID-19 has impacted all of us in different ways, there are many different resources available to help support families, working professionals, and small businesses as they navigate this crisis. In this article, you will find a list of helpful resources that might be helpful for you or to pass on to others who are looking for support. 

First Five Years Fund, a nonprofit organization that works to expand federal support for early learning and child care, has put together an overview of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The overview was shared with an article that underscores quality child care as an essential pillar of America’s labor market and economy, allowing millions of parents to go to work or attend school each day, in addition to the benefits to a child’s learning and development. 

California’s Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, created a “Stress-Busting Playbook” with tips to help children and their caregivers navigate stress. The playbook can help parents know what to look out for to protect both their children’s health and their own. This playbook might be beneficial to share with parents of children in your care, or you might use it as a tool to care for your own family during this time.

To help you maintain safety and awareness during the coronavirus outbreak, CCAoA has compiled upcoming and recorded COVID-19 webinars on our webinar hub. Stay up-to-date on what’s happening on small and large scales by watching recordings of past events.

The SBA announced that it will be accepting applications on Friday, April 3rd, for its Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable small business loans of up to $10 million to cover payroll and certain other expenses, or 2.5 times your total payroll expenses for the loan period. It is important to apply soon, because loans will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, until the total loan pool of $350 billion is allocated.

An article from the Los Angeles Times shares the challenges facing child care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many ECE professionals who have stayed open throughout the past few weeks are feeling pressure to care for young children during an extremely stressful time as they face financial struggles, a lack of necessary supplies, and little support or guidance.

Sesame Street is offering support during the COVID-19 health crisis. Elmo and friends are featured in new animated PSAs reminding young viewers to take care while washing hands and to cough and sneeze safely in a new Caring for Each Other campaign and their site is filled with content you can use all day long to spark playful learning, offer children comfort, and focus a bit on yourself, too, because it’s important that we take care of ourselves, in order to best care for our families.

The Community Care Licensing Division has sent many announcements over the past couple of weeks to announce changes in policy and practice as it temporarily switches its focus to contain and mitigate, and help licensed providers contain and mitigate COVID-19. We encourage you to watch for these email announcements. One that caught our attention announced the suspension of annual inspections. 

The rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought home for many the importance of quality care and learning for children aged 0-5. CalMatters, a nonprofit journalism venture committed to reporting and explaining the news from California’s state Capitol, highlights this issue in its article, As coronavirus upends California, question remains: Who’ll watch the kids?

This week, California’s Legislature has been pursuing emergency legislation to respond rapidly to the COVID-19 crisis. On March 16th, Governor Newsom provided them with the requisite declaration, enabling them to act on a bill in spite of it not being in print for at least 72 hours. The Legislature amended AB 117 with new language in order to provide relief and assurance for school districts across a host of issues impacted by the current COVID-19 situation. 

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is accepting applications from small businesses for loans to cover financial losses resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. These loans are available to businesses that have physical locations in eligible states. (California is an eligible state.)  Loans for up to $2 million are being approved for small businesses damaged by the coronavirus outbreak. Interest rates on the loans are 3.75% for businesses and 2.75% for non-profits. 

On Tuesday, March 17 Good2Know Network posted information about a webinar hosted by ChildCare Aware of America and a phone conference hosted by the California Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD), about preparing for and responding to the impacts of COVID-19. If you would like to learn more about the content provided at these virtual meetings, we are sharing a recording of the Child Care Aware webinar and informal written notes from one of the participants CCLD call.

At this very moment, the federal government is discussing and debating potential economic support for people whose livelihoods will be affected by COVID-19. In this article, we share information to share your input by using resources from Child Care Aware or by sending personal messages to California Senators and to your Congressional Representative.

The Bright Futures Scholarship Program, from Bright Horizons, supports the field of early childhood education by offering scholarships for future teachers to enable students of great promise to continue pursuing their dreams of caring for, teaching, and inspiring young children. Scholarships are awarded to students from across the country in the early childhood field.

Last month the Center for American Progress, a national progressive think tank, issued a report detailing the economic challenges facing families with very young children, Investing in Infant and Child Care to Strengthen Working Families. The report’s key observation is that families with an infant or toddler spend about 50% more on childcare than families with a preschooler.