My International Contact

I would like to introduce to you Mr.Don Giesbrecht. He is the President of the Canadian Childcare Federation . Don first worked in early childhood programs in 1991 and became an Executive Director in 1996. He has been at ACC, which provides quality care and education for over 200 children ages 1 ½ to 12 years old, since 2005. His current work at the community level includes working on a broad-based community governance model for early learning programs in the St. James community in Winnipeg.
He's been the President of CCCF since 2006. Mr. Giesbrecht has communicated with me via email. His passion in early childhood was relevant from our first communication.

There is so much to discuss when it comes to early childhood from the politics of it, the necessity of play based curriculum, the integral role it plays for families and children in modern society to the many issue that affect quality and the retention and recruitment of quality, trained early childhood educators. One thing I know to be true is that across Canada, as an example, the issues from province to province are the same and as I have had the pleasure of meeting colleagues and have spoken with others in the US about issues you face, I can tell you with certainty that they are the same.

Early childhood is not embraced with the same reverence and investment that elementary, middle and high school children are (and by no means am I suggesting that any of these age groups have enough invested in them, but by comparison, early childhood is the very poor and distant relative). Yet, we know that research tells us that quality early childhood experiences are a key to life-long learning, success, reduced social costs and participation in the work force (both for parents of today and for their children down the road). It truly baffles me that politicians and society in general still view early childhood as baby sitting and in many cases, as an affront to the sanctity of the family.  
Don Giesbrecht.

It's amazing how many of us are not alone in the crusade towards educating others of the importance of early childhood.  It's comforting knowing that children have someone advocating for them constantly. Also helping families understand the importance the early years of development is. I am looking forward for continuing my communication with Don and learning more how there organization is working towards early childhood education.

Poverty

 

Despite the United States having the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, the United States has the highest number of children living at or below the national poverty level (CIA, World Factbook, 2007). The current federal poverty level is $20,650 a year for a family of four.

Poverty is hurting our school children. Poverty is hurting our schools. How are our children going to focus when they can only think about where they will sleep tonight or if they will have dinner? Is this a problem for society or is it an individual problem? What can our schools do when our schools are poor also? Most importantly, how will all of these questions be addressed? Programs for children and families are the softest targets for policymakers desperate to make cuts. Policymakers have been eyeing Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start and other programs for deep cuts. Yet these are the programs have been an important safety net for more and more American families as they deal with their own budget crises.