The League of Women Voters of the Charlottesville Area presents a Sunday Seminar, “Improving Early Childhood Care and Education” on Sunday, November 17, 2019, in CitySpace, Downtown Mall. Doors open at 2 pm for “Meet and Greet” and Program begins promptly at 2:30 pm.

Early childhood care and education is important because many families need child care and there is not enough affordable, quality child care in our region. The Child Care Committee of the League of Women Voters of the Charlottesville Area is currently doing a study of child care in order to update our position. The focus of the study is on child care licensing and enforcement as well as education and training for those who work in child care. The role that government should play in child care is being considered. While it’s a good sign that in June, 2018, Governor Northam reestablished the Children’s Cabinet, which is being led by First Lady Pamela Northam, real results and evidence of improvement in local child care is something we need to monitor.

It’s important that we be advocates for children, not only for their well being but for the well being of society generally. Early childhood is a time of development and growth, socially, emotionally and intellectually. Good early childhood experiences can have positive lifelong effects on children. However, inadequate care can have negative lifelong effects on children. We should have high expectations for child care and provide enough resources for high quality child care for children in Virginia.

We are delighted that Gail Esterman, Director of Early Learning at ReadyKids, will be our guest speaker. Gail will be telling us about the many positive initiatives that are going on at the state and federal levels, to improve early childhood care and education. One initiative is “Virginia Quality”, which is the state’s voluntary quality rating and improvement system. It includes regulating authority, quality rating standards and professional development. Following Gail’s presentation, Beth Kariel and Kathryn Dillon, of the League’s Child Care Committee, will give a presentation about the results of their study of child care licensing.

Join us for this informative meeting on Sunday, November 17, 2019, at CitySpace, Charlottesville Downtown Mall (parking in the adjacent Market Street parking garage). Doors open at 2 pm; program begins promptly at 2:30 pm. All League seminars are open to the public. The seminar is being coordinated by LWV-CVA members Beth Kariel and Kathryn Dillon. For further information about this seminar, please contact Pat Cochran, LWV CVA president: patcochranlwvcva@gmail.com