Director of Communications, Research & Development
518-690-4217 ext 22
mstalker@earlycareandlearning.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
10/15/2012
Guide for Voters and Candidates Released
(Albany, New York) Children don’t get to vote or run for office. They are at the mercy of adults to make decisions that are in their best interest. The Early Care & Learning Council (the Council) today released a Guide for Voters and Candidates to assist voters in making informed decisions in regards to the needs of children, their families and the community at large. The guide is also a resource for candidates to better understand polices that affect children and how to learn more about those issues.
The focus areas in the Early Care & Learning Council’s Guide for Voters and Candidates are based on the Council’s 2013 Public Policy Agenda. Those focus areas are; Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency capacity, access to quality early care and learning, social and emotional health, and physical health and well-being.
New York’s CCR&Rs serve as community coordinating and planning agencies for local child care services and offer a variety of supports to child care providers, parents, businesses, and local governments. These agencies provide affordable quality professional development. They are the key to workforce development in the early care and education field and are a community hub for families.
“This is our first Guide for Voters and Candidates,” said Jessica Klos-Shapiro, policy associate at the Council. “We are excited to offer this as a resource for those looking to educate themselves in the days and weeks leading up to the election. It’s important for people to know where the candidates stand on issues that affect our most valuable resource, our children. It’s important that candidates have all the information on those issues as well.”
CCR&Rs are the first focus of the Early Care & Learning Council’s as they are a vital part of improving the availablity of quality care, supporting social and emotional health for children in care and promoting physical health and well-being for young children. Continued support for these agencies is essential to New York’s early care and education infrasructure.
To view the 2012 Guide for Voters and Candidates and the 2013 Public Policy Agenda: http://www.earlycareandlearning.org/policy/PublicPolicyAgenda.htm
To learn more about CCR&Rs: http://issuu.com/ruth-sadinsky/docs/eclc_corpbrochure_issuu
To view a statewide composite of CCR&Rs: http://www.earlycareandlearning.org/news/documents/NEWCompositeofNYSCCRRFINAL.pdf
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Early Care & Learning Council: For more than thirty-five years, the Early Care & Learning Council has been a leading voice for early care and education in New York State. With its statewide network of child care resource and referral agencies, the Council has successfully fought for increases in funding to support early childhood programs and for the reform of child care laws, regulations and policies to improve safety and quality in child care settings. The Council was a founder and convener of both the Child Care that Works Campaign and Winning Beginning NY, both statewide advocacy coalitions. The Council and partners work to increase the quality, affordability and capacity of the early care and learning field and does so through training and technical assistance, data management and advocacy initiatives. For more information, please call (518) 690-4217 or visit www.earlycareandlearning.org.
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