It takes a village.
Often used to illustrate the many hands who help lift a child through their development, this phrase speaks to the need for many people to come together to provide a safe and healthy environment for children, where children are given the security they need to develop and flourish, where children’s voices matter.
Recently, MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership hosted a Family, Friends, and Neighbors Child Care Providers appreciation event in Park Rapids to provide information about the resources and opportunities available for supporting providers’ important work.
Representatives from Head Start, Child Care Aware, Parent Aware, First Children’s Finance, and Northwest Minnesota Foundation all spoke to the services and supports they can offer. The providers asked a lot of questions, cultivating an interactive experience for all attendees.
“The providers benefit from these events, but the children are ultimately benefitting the most,” said Katie Gunderson, an NMF program officer who works with the Child Care program. “Quality care is our ultimate goal for all children, and bringing providers together to introduce them to resources available to support them is only going to help.”
She pointed out that additional opportunities are available to Family, Friends, and Neighbors are the ongoing STEP UP child care workshops, which introduce social-emotion learning basics and skills.
“These trainings have been very well-attended and proven to be helpful in guiding quality child care to all children, to help providers run a business and to help providers and parents to learn to work together as a team,” Katie said.
