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The California Child Development CORPS

Early childhood teachers and providers organizing and advocating for better pay, benefits, job conditions, and professional respect.

From May-June 2008 Issue
By Amanda Montague

Corps training prepares participants for budget activism

Desiree Lopez was ready to speak out when she went to Sacramento to protest proposed cuts to funding for child care professional development (AB 212). The governor’s proposal is “looking to cut the funding for AB 212 by 25.9%,” she says. “But it’s important that the funding continues at the same level because (AB 212 lets) teachers get more training and gives them stipends to continue their education.”

In Sacramento, Lopez delivered postcards to legislators and went to a budget committee meeting, along with other early care and education teachers and providers from the California Child Development Corps. Corps participants visited 19 legislators’ offices. Lopez, a teacher at the Concord Child Care Center, has been involved with the Corps for two years.

Speaking out

“We got about five to 20 minutes to try to persuade legislators not to cut AB 212 funding and only two minutes at the committee meeting,” Lopez recalls. “So you need to be sure you are clear. (I brought) pictures of children in our center, (to) help show the legislators how AB 212 has really worked in real life.”

Lopez prepared for her trip to the Capitol by attending one of the Corps’ two speaker trainings in March. “The training helped us hone what we’re going to discuss,” she says. “We wrote down our statements, rehearsed them, and got feedback.”

Real results

AB 212 stipends help teachers take trainings to "identify developmental problems," says Lopez. These trainings helped them "spot a child in our program who had a severe speech delay and (refer) him to a speech pathologist. This child is doing well in speech therapy and will start kindergarten this fall in a regular classroom environment," she adds. “The funding also provides stipends for teachers. With the professional development stipends I have received from AB 212, I was able to apply this year for a Site Supervisor Child Development Permit.

“AB 212 provides an incentive for early childhood educators to strive for professionalism,” says Lopez. “It means better qualified teachers and better quality early childhood education programs.”

Thanks to the Trio Foundation for its support of this page.
www.foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/trio


Announcements

  • The California Child Development Corps is working in coalition against budget cuts that hurt children and working families. For more info on visiting your legislator locally, contact your local Corps participant (see below).


For more information, contact:

If your county is not listed above, contact Sara Hicks-Kilday at cares@caccwrc.org, 415-808-7327. For spanish, contact Teresa Calle-Streicker, 415-808-4126.

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From May-June 2008 Issue

Related topics: Advocacy and Community Building, Advocacy tips/resources, Budget advocacy, Budget advocacy, California Child Development Corps, Child care activism tips/tactics, Child Care and Early Care and Education, Child care budget activism, Child care/early care and education, Teacher/provider activism, Teacher/provider activism

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