Letter from Mindy
Dear Friends,
Here in Atlanta, Georgia legislators are in the midst of making decisions on budget and policy that will affect each of us. At GEEARS, one of our commitments is to equity and a key part of this commitment is ensuring that the voices of families are heard. It was in this spirit that, last month, GEEARS hosted its third Strolling Thunder. We had the opportunity to provide advocacy training and experience to Georgia’s families of infants and toddlers while connecting them with their legislators! We shared stories and resources to help inform their future decisions on policies affecting young children and families.
Your voices continue to be needed as the legislative session continues. Please contact your representatives and senators to speak about the importance of programs including Georgia Pre-K and Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) and about the critical role that social and emotional health plays in healthy child development.
I’m looking forward to another installment of our Speaker Series – Conversations on Early Childhood (April 15). We’ve invited equity expert Heather McGee to share her experience and knowledge on organizational transformation and the importance of equal opportunity for all. I’m looking forward to this talk, and hope to see you there.
Thank you for your continued support,
Mindy
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RECAP: Strolling Thunder 2020 - A Storm of Advocacy for Infants and Toddlers
On Monday, January 27th, 2020, GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, in partnership with ZERO TO THREE, brought babies and parents from around Georgia to meet their elected officials during Strolling Thunder.
We came together for advocacy training, Capitol visits, and roundtable discussions so families could share their stories about the joys and challenges of raising infants and toddlers in Georgia and encourage Georgia's leadership to Think Babies—for stronger families, vibrant communities, and a prosperous state.
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Save the Date:
Speaker Series featuring Equity-Focused Policy Expert, Heather McGee
Thursday, April 15, 2020 - Georgia Tech Conference Center
GEEARS is excited to announce another installment of our Speaker Series: Conversations on Early Childhood, featuring Heather McGee.
Heather McGhee is a nationally recognized equity-focused policy expert and a proven bridge-builder. At just 33, she became the head of the influential think tank, Demos, whose mission it is to realize a democracy with "an equal say and an equal chance for all." Since leaving Demos in 2018, Heather has become a thought-leader in organizing systemic repair, from the personal to the corporate worlds, to realize opportunity and prosperity for all.
Her talk will draw on research and experience to examine organizational transformations that expand opportunity for individuals, families, and organizations alike. Heather offers much needed context for understanding new generations now entering the workforce, the challenges they face today, and how improved integration can lead to more powerful outcomes. Her talks offer clear take-aways like how to make change processes mission-critical, how to get buy-in, and how to accomplish it all with joy.
At GEEARS, we understand the role that organizational transformation plays in helping to close the equity gap for families, and we're thrilled to have this important conversation.
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New Videos: Solutions to Georgia's Child Care Challenges
Starting in 2018, GEEARS and the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) set out to better understand the prevalence, nature, and impact of child care challenges through a survey and series of focus groups with parents of young children. The results presented in our first report, Opportunities Lost, are alarming.
Last year, GEEARS and the MAC published a follow up report, Advancing Opportunity: Parents’ Solutions to Georgia’s Child Care Challenges. The report and companion videos feature parents’ descriptions of the nature of the challenges they experience and proposed solutions for policymakers, employers, and higher education to address such challenges and ensure that Georgia is a great place to raise a family and do business.
This week, GEEARS Executive Director, Mindy Binderman, and MAC's Director of Education Policy, Tim Cairl, will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to speak about the partnership between GEEARS and MAC at the Early Ed Summit, hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. This year the summit will focus on the economic impact of early education on select states.
The following videos were produced thanks to support from the Goizueta Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Video Production Credit: Consume Media
Complete Summary:
Recommendations for Policymakers:
Recommendations for Employers:
Recommendations for Higher Education:
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The 2020 Mayor's Summer Reading Club Partnership Application is Now Open
Click here to apply.
Mayor's Summer Reading Club Program Goals:
- to engage the community in encouraging our youngest children to read and learn during the summer,
- to encourage families to instill literacy as a core value in the home, and
- to increase family awareness of the importance of reading with children everyday.
How do Partners Participate?
Partners agree to do at least one "read" during the summer and host at least one activity related to the books selected. These events are intended to be low cost and easy for the sponsoring organizations. The Mayor's Summer Reading Club is not intended to be simply a book give away.
Partners agree to send GEEARS information about their event(s) to include on our summer reading calendar, to ensure that the event is open to the public and assist us in publicizing the program. Partners who wish to receive books will also participate in a storyteller training for those in their organization who will be executing the programming and readings. In addition, partners agree to complete a short survey after their event(s) so that we can keep track of attendance and other information.
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Childcare and Parents Services (CAPS) Eligibility Update
Beginning April 1st, 2020, the Georgia Department of Early Care & Learning (DECAL) will begin allowing pursuit of a four-year degree as an approved activity for participation in the state Child Care Assistance Program (CAPS). Georgia joins 40 other states that allow student parents to access child care subsidies while working on a bachelor’s degree, removing a big barrier to education and training in the state.
This two-generation policy change will have a huge impact on parents with low incomes who receive CAPS and want to continue their education while also helping to address the benefits cliff.
GEEARS and the members of our Infant and Toddler Coalition worked together to support this effort. Thanks to the dedication of Senator Elena Parent and the leadership at DECAL for making this change to improve the lives of Georgia’s families and children!
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Attend the Montag Family Community Lecture, featuring Maryanne Wolf:
The Deep Reading Brain in a Digital World
Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Director of UCLA’s Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners and Social Justice and former Director of the Tufts Center for Reading and Language Research and other researchers have determined how we can end our country’s illiteracy epidemic and construct each child’s reading brain.
With her latest book, Wolf also offers a caution: With our children so immersed in our now digital world, will learning to read be even more difficult? Are our most vulnerable children and all of our children being put at further risk?
In this lecture, Wolf provides a cautionary but hopeful perspective on the impact of technology on our brains, the way we learn, our need to construct bi-literate reading brains (print and digital media)—and what this could mean for our future.
Thursday, March 12, 2020
7:00PM
Atlanta Speech School
3160 Northside Parkway Northwest Atlanta, GA 30327
The lecture is free, and space is limited.
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As we work to serve Georgia’s youngest children and their families, it’s important that we collect their stories to learn more about what they need. It’s helpful to have the ability to share family’s personal accounts and testimonies with change makers when we’re advocating on their behalf. We’re happy to introduce a new segment of our newsletter, “A Family’s Perspective.”
“There is no better way to invest in the long-term health and future of this state than in our young kids. Creating environments for them to thrive, both with family and their larger communities, is critical to building a foundation for them to succeed as they grow and become productive members of society.”
- Atlanta father
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Follow Along Online
Are you following GEEARS on your favorite social media platforms? Stay updated on what's happening by following us at the links below!
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Please consider supporting GEEARS’ advocacy efforts by making a donation that will support Georgia’s earliest learners and their families. Your tax-deductible donation supports our work as early childhood advocates and the leaders of this movement.
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