Zero To Three/President's budget Plan for Early Childcare

The website I decided to use was Zero to Three. I have used this website a lot for references and I subscribed to the newsletter at the beginning of this class. I just received my first newsletter and I was surprised that it was full of offers to buy merchandise in the form of CD’s, books, subscribe to the Zero to Three Journals, two sided slide chart, earn your CEU’s for your CDA. The website also offered current resources for the month, but you also had to buy it to read it. The website let you search the catalog, visit the bookstore, and see digital downloads; these are also for purchasing I do know that the Zero to Three Website is nonprofit and offering these resources for purchase goes to help fund and keep the website and Journals up to date. The newsletter does let you connect to the website by one click and that allows you to access all the current information and recent articles. I was really impressed in the newsletter when it showed Little Kids Big Questions section where it also offered new CEU credits to renew one’s CDA. I was just recently asked if I knew where you could get CEU’s without having to go to one of those classes on Saturday or at night. This is a good opportunity for busy teachers and staff to renew their CEU’s on their own time, but it does cost money, $40.00 per podcast and one CEU credit. The website has a new addition to it that was posted on April 10, 2013. This addition was in regards to President Obama’s budget plan for early education. “The President’s Plan for Early Education for All Americans is the roadmap for the early learning components of the budget released today. The budget includes $1.4 billion to expand the comprehensive supports offered to the most vulnerable families through Early Head Start – which for almost 20 years has proven it improves both child and parental outcomes. The plan would provide $200 million in 2014 specifically to create more high-quality child care options for babies and toddlers with working parents, using Early Head Start’s quality benchmarks, expertise, and resources. Looking ahead, the budget proposal provides for $7 billion over 10 years to ensure young children and families have access to high-quality child care” (Zero to Three, 2013). This is a great addition to this week’s issue and trends, affordability, accessibility, and availability. The plan is to make sure that babies and toddlers have accessibility to affordable childcare that is high-quality. Zero to Three website is making this available to everyone on their website and you can even download the whole press release from the website too. Equity and excellence is importance in the Early Childhood field and the website Zero to Three brought awareness to President Obama’s budget plan for early education and this is about equity and excellence. It has finally been realized that investing in all of our children in the early years is important and this budget has set aside funds for low income families to receive high quality care for children ages birth to 2. This plan includes home visiting which is a big part of being equal in regards to quality child care. “The President’s plan also extends and expands home visiting -- which has been warmly embraced by states, communities, and parents -- to reach more families where they live, with information, guidance, and encouragement. The budget proposal released today allocates $15 billion of funding over 10 years to invest in this effort. “Babies don’t come with an instruction manual, and every parent can benefit from reliable information about early learning and a helping hand,” says Melmed. “The President’s plan helps parents utilize what science and evidence-based practice has to offer in order to give babies, toddlers, and young children the best start in life” (Zero to Three, 2013). “The President’s plan builds on what we know works: start early with consistent, high-quality, evidence-based supports that match what parents need and help parents nurture the early development of their babies and toddlers” (Zero to Three, 2013). Reference Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families http://www.zerotothree.org