Join us for the 2017 Child Care Summit! All 3 Summits will follow the same program. Attend the location that is easiest for you!

Rochester – Saturday, May 20, Albany – Saturday, September 16  and Nassau, Long Island  – Saturday, October 14

The Saturday, May 20 event will be held at the Rochester Hyatt Regency, 125 East Main St.

(All 3 Summits will follow the same program.)

9-10 a.m. – CHECK-IN (we will offer light breakfast fare) and information tables ; CSEA insurances and other programs.

10 a.m. – 12 p.m. – PROGRAM

— Meet your CSEA and VOICE officers, Chapter Representatives and leaders!
— Learn the history of our Union and CSEA/VOICE Local 100A ( slide show)
— Building more Union Power; what are we doing, what can we do better, strength in numbers, advocating for families and family child care.
— Political Action – Meet elected officials (to be determined) and discuss need for support $$ in the state budget for child care.

12 – 1 p.m. – LUNCH (hot and cold buffet)

1:30 – 3 p.m.   WORKSHOP: Advocacy workshop with training credits in three break-out rooms.  This part of the day is *optional.  Folks that would like to stay for the workshops/training credits will *register separately.  Those who choose not to stay, can depart after lunch.

REGISTER ONLINE RIGHT HERE!

PRINT a ‘Save The Date’ for your bulletin board or fridge: 
Saturday, May 20 – Rochester, NY 
Saturday, September 16 – Albany, NY
Saturday,  October 14 – Nassau, Long Island, NY

¡ACTUALIZACIONES! Durante nuestra última reunión/entrenamiento, el comité CSEA/VOICE DSS presentó preguntas de nuestros miembros. Hubo una discusión abierta con los proveedores y funcionarios de DSS durante y después de la reunión. Mantenga sus ojos abiertos para más información de entrenamientos gratis como éste por correo electrónico y el calendario de eventos CSEA/VOICE voicecsea.org/events. También hemos sido informados por Nassau DSS que el portal Web https://apps.nassaucountyny.gov/dss ahora está funcionando. Si tiene algún problema por favor háganoslo saber.

¡NUEVA OPORTUNIDAD! Es con gran orgullo que anunciamos que el Equipo DSS del Condado de Nassau busca ampliar el comité. Nuestro trabajo ha sido vital para los proveedores a través de los años y se necesitan manos adicionales a bordo ya que nuestra membresía ha crecido.

DESCARGAR APLICACIÓN

Muchos miembros de CSEA/VOICE sirven a familias elegibles y reciben subsidios para el cuidado de niños. Los miembros del equipo de DSS trabajan con los miembros de VOICE, el DSS del condado de Nassau y el personal de CSEA/VOICE para resolver los problemas de pago del DSS y mejorar el sistema de subsidios para satisfacer mejor las necesidades de los proveedores, los niños y familias a quienes servimos. Los equipos de DSS y CSEA/VOICE trabajan para asegurar el finaciamiento local, estatal y federal para subsidios de cuidado infantil para familias trabajadoras.

Los miembros deben estar disponibles para reunirse en persona y por teléfono según sea necesario y asistir a las reuniones de Capítulo de CSEA/VOICE en el condado de Nassau.

Si le gustaría ser considerado para servir como miembro del equipo de DSS del condado de Nassau de CSEA/VOICE, favor de completar la solicitud y envíela a la representante de capítulo, Lisa Price al correo electrónico lprice.voice@gmail.com.

Si está interesado y tiene preguntas o desea más información sobre el trabajo del equipo, comuníquese con Lisa Price al (516) 457-3447.

It is with great pride that we announce the Monroe County DSS Team seeks to expand the committee by an additional member. Our work has been vital for providers over the years and an additional hand on deck is needed since our membership has grown.

*Para leer esta carta en español*
Descargar aplicación en español
Las solicitudes deben ser devueltas antes del viernes 3 de marzo de 2017 para ser consideradas

DOWNLOAD APPLICATION
Applications must be returned by Friday, March 3, 2017 to be considered.

What does a DSS Team member do?
Many members of CSEA/VOICE serve families eligible for and receiving child care subsidies. Members of the DSS team work with VOICE members, Erie County DSS and CSEA/VOICE staff to resolve DSS payment problems and make improvements to the subsidy system so that it better meets the needs of providers and the children and families we serve. CSEA/VOICE DSS teams work to secure local, state and federal funding for child care subsidies for working families.

Members must be available to meet in-person and by phone as needed and attend CSEA/VOICE Chapter meetings in Erie County.

If you would like to be considered to serve on the CSEA/VOICE Monroe County DSS Team, please complete the application and return it to:

Ronora James
277 Woodbine Avenue
Rochester, NY 14619

If you are interested and have questions or would like more information about the work of the team, contact Ronora James at (585) 328-6459 or email ronora@orasplace.net.  

Es con gran orgullo que anunciamos que el Equipo de DSS del condado de Monroe busca expandir el comité por un miembro adicional. Nuestro trabajo ha sido vital para los proveedores a través de los años y una mano adicional es necesaria ya que nuestra membresía ha crecido.

DESCARGAR APLICACIÓN
Las solicitudes deben ser devueltas antes del viernes 3 de marzo de 2017 para ser consideradas

 ¿Qué hace un miembro del Equipo de DSS?

Muchos miembros de CSEA/VOICE sirven a familias elegibles y reciben subsidios para el cuidado de niños.  Los miembros del equipo de DSS trabajan con los miembros de VOICE, DSS del condado de Erie y el personal de CSEA/VOICE para resolver los problemas de pago del DSS y hacer mejoras al sistema de subsidios para satisfacer mejor las necesidades de los proveedores, los niños y familias a quienes servimos.  Los equipos de CSEA/VOICE DSS trabajan para asegurar fondos locales, estatales y federales para subsidios de cuidado de niños para familias trabajadoras.

Los miembros deben estar disponibles para reunirse en persona y por teléfono, según sea necesario, y asistir a las reuniones de Capítulo de CSEA/VOICE en el condado de Erie.

 Si desea ser considerado como miembro del Equipo DSS del Condado de Monroe de CSEA/VOICE, complete la aplicación y devuélvala a:

Ronora James
277 Woodbine Avenue
Rochester, NY 14619

Si usted está interesado y tiene preguntas o desea más información sobre el trabajo del equipo, póngase en contacto con Ronora James al (585) 328-6459 o correo electrónico ronora@orasplace.net.

The following is from The Council for Professional Recognition. 

About The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™

The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™ is the most widely recognized credential in early childhood education (ECE) and is a key stepping stone on the path of career advancement in ECE.

The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™ is based on a core set of competency standards, which guide early care professionals as they work toward becoming qualified teachers of young children. The Council works to ensure that the nationally-transferable CDA is a credible and valid credential, recognized by the profession as a vital part of professional development.

CDAs have knowledge of how to put the CDA Competency Standards into practice and understanding of why those standards help children move with success from one developmental stage to another. Put simply, CDAs know how to nurture the emotional, physical, intellectual, and social development of children.

Earning the Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™ has many advantages, including exposure to the larger community of early childhood educators. Over 370,000 educators have received their CDA to date!

Becoming a CDA is a big commitment, but one that creates confident practitioners with command of today’s best practices for teaching young children.

Benefits of The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™

• Advance your career
• Meet job requirements
• Reinforce your commitment to early childhood education
• Provide parents with peace of mind
• Understand developmentally appropriate practice
• Increase your confidence

CSEA/VOICE is offering up to $3000 toward a CDA for all providers in the Local 100A bargaining unit.  APPLY NOW! 

The final regulation to implement new market rates was posted on June 15.

There is a short public comment period, which ends on July 27, 2016. We–CSEA–are working with members across the state to provide information and assist providers to submit comments.

Submit comments to:
New York State Office of Children and Family Services
52 Washington Street, Room 305 South
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Fax: (518) 486-7550
E-mail: info@ocfs.ny.gov

New York state continues to use the 69th percentile formula.   We, along with other advocates, pushed to get back to 75th percentile. Given that there was NO ADDITIONAL $$ in the state budget for child care this year, it is good that NYS retained the 69th percentile.

For the first time:

—-  The infant definition in subsidy regulations now synchs with health and safety regulations (per negotiating team- agreement with NYS/OCFS). Before, though you were limited to two children under two at any one time, you were only paid the higher rate up to 18 months.

—-  DSS agencies will now have to pay a 5% minimum enhanced rate for children experiencing homelessness in regulated child care programs and all children attending child care during non-traditional hours (morning, evening, and weekends). OCFS will provide more details on the non-traditional hour minimum rate after the regulation takes effect.

—-  NYS combined Group Family and Family into one rate category. The federal government now has only one category for family child care. So – when the data was collected, Group Family and Family data were analyzed together instead of separately.

—-  Since CSEA worked with OCFS to change the ratios, many registered family child care providers transitioned to licensed group family. The regulations are the same for registered family and licensed group family – except for ratio restrictions. OCFS has found that many licensed group family child care providers are operating as registered family child care. Having a single rate makes it more affordable for Group Family Child Care providers operating as Family Child Care to do so.

What could be better?

MORE STATE FUNDING FOR CHILD CARE
Decisions about rates are always driven by $$. Last time OCFS implemented new market rates (2014), the Governor put $21 million in the state budget for the rate change. The legislature added over $30 million to make the total over $50 million AND the formula was still moved back from the 75th to the 69th percentile meaning that many rates stayed the same instead of increasing.

This year – there was NO MONEY in the budget for child care AND HUGE COSTS to implement the new federal standards in the next three years.   The state is trying to balance rates and subsidy slots without making the kind of investment in child care that is needed to sustain slots for children and support providers to deliver quality care.

We work every year with advocates across the nation and state to push for more $$ for child care. While we did win a slight increase at the federal level, it is not nearly enough to meet the need. And – this year – the legislature budgeted no increase despite the substantial cost we face to implement new federal standards.

What can we do?

1) Submit comments on the new rates before July 27, 2016. The more comments the state receives, the more seriously they will consider kudos, concerns and recommendations.

2) Provide input to OCFS about the questions asked in the Market Rate Survey, how data is collected and analyzed. Our contracts with NYS / OCFS provide the opportunity for CSEA to discuss and make recommendations on the Market Rate Survey. The new Child Care Development Block Grant law requires that states submit plan every 3 (instead of 2) years. Though we expect that new Market Rates will not be released until 2017, we will begin to work on this now.

3) Work with our members to make sure that providers have the tools to calculate what it costs to deliver quality child care. We will provide (at no cost), Cost of Doing Business Training – (based on Tom Copeland’s resources) leading up to the next Market Rate Survey (likely 2017).

4) Work to get more $$ in next year’s state budget – a lot more $$. We need to all work together to mobilize parents, friends, neighbors and ourselves to make this happen.

Submit comments to:
New York State Office of Children and Family Services
52 Washington Street, Room 305 South
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Fax: (518) 486-7550
E-mail: info@ocfs.ny.gov

Have you received a postcard invitation from us to register for a CPR/1st Aid class?

REGISTER ONLINE HERE.

CSEA/VOICE is covering the cost for an Adult-Child-Infant CPR and First Aid training class with funds negotiated for in our second union contract.

The class is open to eligible registered and licensed child care providers, their staff, substitutes and volunteers  requiring certification and/or renewal within 90 days.

Please note: there is a 2 person limit per child care program.

If you have any further questions, call toll free 855-472-6848 and ask for Jessie.

We recently learned that Suffolk County has reduced the eligibility rate for families receiving child care subsidies from the 165% to 150% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). (For a household of 4, the FPL guideline is $24,300).

Eligibility Standards for child care May 2016 – Suffolk County DSS
Eligibility standards for child care June 2016-2017- Suffolk County DSS
DOWNLOAD AND PRINT STORIES FORM

As of May 1, parents earning more than 125 percent will no longer be eligible to receive child care assistance.

A few years ago, VOICE/CSEA and Suffolk County advocates worked together to get Suffolk County to restore parent eligibility after drastic cuts. Now is the time for us to pull together again to make sure that families have the assistance they need to access reliable, quality child care so they can keep working. We have scheduled a meeting with Suffolk County DSS. We will post up to date information at our website, voicecsea.org, as soon as we have it.

Here’s what you can do:

• Collect stories from the parents in your program about the child care subsidy program. How does child care assistance help them stay working? How does it benefit the children? How do cuts to child care assistance impact working families? The community?
• Share your story. How many children and families do you serve? How long have you operated your child care program? Do you employ members of the community? How will this cut to parent eligibility impact your livelihood? Your own family? Your community?

We have created a form that will help you easily collect and submit stories.

Send us your cell phone number so that we can text you with updates. Check our webpage and “Like” us on Facebook for up to date information.   Be ready to join us in taking action for children, families and communities in Suffolk County.

Our website: http://voicecsea.org
Our email: voice@voicecsea.org
Our FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/voicecsea
Call us: CSEA Child Care Resource Center  (877) 483-2732

Dear VOICE/CSEA,
CSEA knows that when we stick together, we are strong. Just as you never quit nurturing our children, family and communities, our union — CSEA — will never quit supporting the invaluable work that you do.

Wishing you the best Provider Appreciation Day today,
CSEA President Danny Donohue
———————————————————————————-
Dear Family Child Care Providers,
The Office of Children and Family Services applauds caregivers everywhere for their dedication to the safety and health of the children entrusted to their care — the young ones who depend on you for their emotional and physical development.

The role of a child day care worker in shaping the lives of the young and vulnerable is monumental and a significant responsibility that OCFS supports and appreciates.

Thank you!
Sheila J. Poole
Acting Commissioner of OCFS

Click on the image below to enlarge and read the Spring 2016 edition of the CSEA Child Care newspaper. The Spanish version is also available.