"I’d never been to a conference specifically geared towards family child care,” says Ansina Green, a long-time family child care provider in Perres. She’s also a member of the Riverside Child Development Corps, which was looking for a way “to get providers more involved in the Corps and local advocacy initiatives.”

So the Riverside group organized an early care and education conference and—while providers networked and attended workshops—they learned more about getting active on early care and education issues.

“We know what we need”

“Primarily family child care providers (with the Riverside Corps group) organized this conference because we know what we need,” says Green. “Our conference was more intimate (and) focused. It was a lot of work, lots of meetings, and lots of providers helping to make it happen. We had workshops on curriculum ideas, stress management, brain development, parental involvement, and writing skills. There were workshops by family child care providers.”

Hearing from the Corps

“We had Susan Jeong from the Corps give a presentation about how important (advocacy is) and what the Corps is about,” says Green. “We also included an insert about the Corps in the conference packet.”

“I was never aware of the Corps until last year,” she adds, “and I really wanted to get the word out and start having providers have a voice in the policies that really affect us. I wanted to get new people involved in advocacy, instead of the handful of people that are more active.”

Next steps

The conference was such a success that the Riverside Corps group is already planning another for next April. “We were thrilled—the conference room could only accommodate 170 people, and we had over 200,” says Green.

The Riverside Corps group is now “trying to recruit more people, particularly center-based teachers. There is only a small group of us and we can only do so much.”

Get Involved

Contact your county representative or Sara Hicks-Kilday (see box) to get involved with the Corps and:

• Attend the annual Corps meeting and training, Nov 14-15 (Bay Area)
• Share your views and learn about policy at a Child Care Work Group meeting (early December, Sacramento)
• Speak with policy makers as part of a united ECE teacher voice
• Distribute Corps information at conferences, classrooms, and workplaces.

For more information, contact:

• Alameda: Marva Lyons, 510-521-3997 and Margaret Costello-Chevis, 510-226-9414
• Butte: Jennifer Ferrini, 530-893-2443
• Contra Costa: Donna Daly, 925-833-0834
• Humboldt: Danielle Koren, 707-443-2497
• Los Angeles: Catherine Scott, 562-572-9939
• Riverside: Tamara Dobson, 951-340-3186
• San Diego: Katy Kenshur, 760-436-3725
• San Francisco: Valentina Feldman, 415-861-5361
• San Joaquin: Bettina Engleman, 209-601-9467
• San Mateo: Silvia Espinoza, 650-359-4675
• Santa Barbara: Christine Fleenor, 805-937-0675
• Shasta: Carol VonBrandt, 530-365-1931
• Solano: June Regis, 707-439-0876

If your county is not listed above, contact Sara Hicks-Kilday at cares@caccwrc.org, 415-808-7327. For spanish, contact Teresa Calle-Streicker, 415-821-7871.