31 Jul 2024 Conference offers early-child care providers resources on Sept. 28 in Batesville
By Stefanie Brazile
Working parents not only struggle to fulfill their work responsibilities, but also struggle to find safe, affordable and reliable child care. Fortunately, Child Care Aware of Northcentral Arkansas is equipped to help parents and child care providers.
The nonprofit organization is part of a nationwide network called Child Care Aware® of America. Its goal is to advance high-quality, affordable child care from birth through age 13 that supports children’s healthy development and early education. “We help parents find quality child care in their area,” said Debbie Mize, director of Child Care Aware of Northcentral Arkansas (CCANA). “We also train new and current providers and offer a conference each September that benefits both groups.”
CCANA provides services in 14 Arkansas counties, with five of those in the 501: Faulkner, White, Conway, Cleburne and Van Buren. They have an office in Batesville and in Conway. Their website, ccana.org, offers a helpful database of licensed and registered facilities that parents and guardians can access at no cost.
For those interested in caring for children, Child Care Aware will guide them through the process of becoming licensed. “If you keep more than five children you must be licensed in Arkansas,” Mize said. Beyond regulations, Mize and her staff want to support people working in this field with information, resources and training.
“There is such a shortage for birth to three years old,” said Amy Pinkston, training coordinator for CCANA. “Arkansas received more than $400 million to sustain child care coming out of COVID-19, and we want to help develop quality providers.”
There is an office in Conway that offers thousands of resources that those in the field can check out. “CCANA also partners with colleges and universities to allow early childhood students to check out resources from our lending libraries in the Conway and Batesville offices. We have thousands of resources to loan,” Mize said. Additionally, they have Advisory Councils in each county that serve as liaisons to Mize and Pinkston. “They can help connect us with the doers, with donors and with door openers,” Mize said. “I invite people who care about children to reach out to us at 870.793.5233, and to attend our 27th annual conference on Sept. 28.”
Pinkston is excited about the conference’s Wizard of Oz theme. “Each year, we present an exciting day-long conference for only $25 per person, and that includes a swag bag and seven hours of PDR credit.”
“There’s No Place Like Early Childhood: Infants…Toddlers…Preschoolers, Oh My!” is planned for 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sept. 28, at Independence Hall on the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College in Batesville.
The keynote speaker is Lisa Murphy, founder and CEO of Ooey Gooey, Inc., whose mission is to assist in the transformation of the profession. According to Pinkston, she wants to accomplish this by providing meaningful workshops and facilitating conversations between people in the early care and education profession. Her keynote topic is “What If Today Was Their Only Day?”
The conference will include an exhibit hall full of early childhood exhibitors. Participants will be able to take photos with Wizard of Oz characters. There will be three 90-minute breakout sessions for each track. Presenters are from the Office of Early Childhood, the University of Arkansas Early Care and Education Projects, A-State Childhood Services, Curricula Concepts, Arkansas Tech University, the Child Care Licensing Staff, the AR T.E.A.C.H. Program, the Step Up to Wages Program, Local Leads, Excel By Eight, Special Olympics of Arkansas, PBS Arkansas and more.
It will include learning tracks for infant, toddler and preschool teachers, as well as out-of-school-time teachers, administrators and directors, family child care home providers and child care support staff.
