Agenda for Children

This week, our professional development team has been busily buzzing around getting ready for next week’s Breathe Early Education (B.E.E.) ?? Retreat.? Facilitated by Breathe For Change, this three day workshop series for early education professionals will provide strategy rich sessions that focus on mind-body well-being, reflection, and community building.? Our team is looking forward to BEEing there with participants and hope everyone will leave the retreat refreshed and inspired!

Agenda for Children has a winning team and on this #Winsday, we want to shout out one of our newest recruits, Hermoine Spencer, who recently joined our finance department as our new Comptroller. A New Orleans native, with a B.S. in Accounting and an M.B.A., Hermoine brings more than 20 years of finance and accounting experience to this role. Welcome to the team Hermoine!

***NOW VIRTUAL*** Early Educators, are you familiar with Bulletin 137’s guidance around ratios and supervision? Are you using active supervision strategies that keep all of your children safe? Do these strategies allow you to engage in meaningful learning activities at the same time? This two-hour session will provide lots of helpful information and tools you can use in your classroom. We only have a handful of seats left so register today! Go to: https://bit.ly/4iAft5R

On this #Winsday, we have to highlight another longtime supporter Roger H. Ogden of Roger H. Ogden Development. Thank you for supporting high-quality early care and education in Louisiana through the School Readiness Tax Credit program! Last year, thanks to SRTCs, Agenda was able to grant over $380,000 for workforce retention to 191 early care and education providers across our service area. This program is a great example of how Louisiana businesses are helping us support our youngest learners, strengthen our workforce, and grow our local economy. If you want to learn more about how your business can participate and win for Louisiana's kids, go to: https://bit.ly/3zdGudE

Hey Early Educators! We still have a few spots available for our 2-hour Childcare and Stress Management for Teachers Workshop on March 15th at the South Slidell Library. Join us and learn strategies and tools to manage a healthy balance between work and life demands. This workshop is open to all Type III and FCC providers in our service area. Register today at: https://bit.ly/4bkrvxt

***Orleans Parish Early Educators*** Have you ever wondered if you have enough or the right materials for your classroom? Are you curious about how to encourage children to explore materials in new and exciting ways? Join us for a specialty two-hour workshop and discover the magic of loose parts play. Inspired by materials from the Kodo Kids collection, this workshop provides an overview of intentional classroom environments and activities that include loose parts, meaning objects and materials that are "open-ended and encourage children to use their imagination and think critically as they build, sort, and experiment." This opportunity is open to Orleans Parish providers, with priority registration available for one participant per center. Space is limited to twenty-five participants. Register today at: https://bit.ly/3DbUg2R

It has become our annual tradition to repost this picture of our Agenda shoe, created by our CEO, and the "300 for 300: People Who Made New Orleans" book which was its source of design inspiration, in honor of our founder, Judy Watts, who loved this holiday. From all of us at Agenda to all of you, Happy Mardi Gras!

Our offices are closed today, March 3 through March 7, for Mardi Gras. We hope everyone will have a safe and festive celebration!

Check out this article which discusses findings from "Caught in the Middle: Louisiana Parents, Work and the Struggle for Affordable Child Care," a report that was released this month during #LAEarlyEdMonth with results from the annual survey of Louisiana parents and guardians with children under age 5. This article also touches on some of the positive investments in early care and education that are being made, like New Orleans groundbreaking 20-year Early Care and Education Property Tax Millage. Last fall, Agenda partnered with The Louisiana Policy Institute for Children , the Louisiana Department of Education, Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, and Women United of Southeast Louisiana to conduct this annual survey. https://bit.ly/4h7dxAi

Last week, we held our second Leaders in Teaching (LIT) session, and participants continued their journey through mentorship in childcare. They unpacked the practice-based coaching model and its ability to positively influence programmatic and personal outcomes, the power of relationships, and the benefits of reflective practice. Participants considered how practice-based coaching differs from other forms of support within the center and were introduced to the process of action planning as a means of strengthening leadership skills while helping colleagues achieve their goals. We look forward to hearing about how they put these skills into practice when we meet again in March!