San Francisco and California have lots of support communities and organizations provide free or affordable resources to children and
families.
As the name said it provides services to
children from zero to five years old. Their mission is “To instill an enduring obligation in San Francisco residents and
government to ensure the opportunity for optimal health and development for
every child living in this county” (First 5 San Francisco)
With “commitment to support young children and
their families from prenatal to five years of age through abundant
opportunities to be healthy, learn, and grow. Children will reach their full
potential. Families will be empowered and engaged civic partners in the work of
the Commission” (First 5 San Francisco).
I love their program of Preschool For All
which is a program to support high-quality of childcare. They provide trainings
to families and early educators such as child development, environment changes,
cultural diversity, dual language supports, inclusive practices etc…. Professional Development is always the best
way to keep us up to date on the recent study and best practices to support
children and families. Additionally, it is always another way we could network
with other colleagues from other agency to learn about their strategies or
tools to support children.
Unfortunately, there is no current job opening
now.
Zero to
Three – National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and families
This organization has
lots of great child development resources for families, educator, policies
maker. One of their mission is to “provides parents, professionals and
policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development” (Zero to
Three). They want to “to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong
start in life”. The web site is very easy to navigate and user friendly which
make it less hassle for family. I like they have monthly issue on different
current child development issue or trends. The web site develop in a few categories:
Behavior & Development, Maltreatment, Care & Education, Public Policy
and About Us. I love the behavior and development section focuses on research
and strategies for families and educators to promote children’s well-being in a
positive and encouragement way. They also have videos, which make it easier to understand.
They have research on why play is important, importance of social-emotional
development and topics that are the current hot topic in the field that I want
to learn more about like challenging behaviors.
They have some job
openings around the states, but they are all in senior levels and one of the
most interested to me is the Senior Training/ Technical Assistance (T/TA)
Specialist. The responsibilities are “planning and providing diverse and
multiple T/TA events, providing support and facilitation for the NCEHS-CCP T/TA
component as outlined in the approved work plan, focusing particularly on supporting
Implementation Planners and
Fiscal Consultants”
It also requires strong
knowledge of and experience with infants and toddlers, the Early Head Start program,
child care program and system, including Family Child Care, the Child Care and
Development Fund and the Head Start Program Performance Standards at states and
local levels”. I do not think I am ready for this position as I am still
learning about all these standards and policies. But I do have a strong organizational
skills which is one of the job requirement!
They have their own quarterly newsletter. Training and workshops for
families and educators. They also provide translations in Spanish and Chinese in
all trainings and workshop upon request. They have a service call “ Volunteer Parent
Mentor” which is family volunteers who are family members of children with special
needs to help families to advocate for their child’s needs and help them with
referral process to necessary services. They have partnerships with different
clinics, child care centers, mental health department, communities support to
support their clients. Their workshops and trainings are FREE!!
They have a Family Resources Specialist opening now which I think I could
qualify. It is a position to “Provide families of children with disabilities or
special health care needs information, education and peer support on a phone
line, at the drop-in center and in the community”. I believe I could qualify
for this position as I have been teaching children with special needs,
attending their IEP meeting, attended intensive training on support children
with Special needs, I have the experience and resources to support the families
in the referral process as well as strategies that they could use at home to
support their child.
.
All these community provides helpful resources for families and educators with recent research to support the resources. I am so glad that my community have such supportive system for us!
First 5 San
Francisco: http://www.first5sf.org/about/mission-and-vision
Zero to Three: http://www.zerotothree.org/
Support for
Families: http://www.supportforfamilies.org/aboutus.html
Hi Yee, I tried to respond to your post but, unfortunately I was unable to see the entire posting. I'm not sure what happened. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Cora,
DeleteThanks for letting me know. I fixed it, hope you are able to view it now.
Joyce