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En español: The California Child Development CORPS (en español) |
This article originally appeared in the May-June 2008 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children. Use the Children's Advocate in your work! Feel free to reprint this article, as a handout or in your own publication -- just credit us (see above) and be sure to send us a copy. The California Child Development CORPSEarly childhood teachers and providers organizing and advocating for better pay, benefits, job conditions, and professional respect. Corps training prepares participants for budget activismBy Amanda MontagueDesiree 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 resultsAB 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.”
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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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