April is being celebrated as the "Month of the Young Child" by the City of Sunnyvale to focus attention on the rights and needs of young children.
In addition to an art display in the Town & Country Village and a concert at the Community Center, there will also be a Parents' Resource Fair at the Sunnyvale Library to answer parents' questions about child care. To kick off the month of activities, a Resource Fair for family child-care providers is being organized for March 15.
As Silicon Valley is facing low unemployment rates and women are entering the workforce in unprecedented numbers, the demand for child-care providers is fast exceeding the supply, a city report states.
To make matters worse, newcomers to the child-care profession have limited opportunities for training and information-gathering.
The Resource Fair is for people who want to provide child care in their homes but do not know how to get started, as well as for those who wish to expand or improve the quality of their child-care business.
"Except for a few unaccredited institutions, child-care needs are satisfied mainly by two types of providers," explained Nancy Johnson, child-care coordinator for the city of Sunnyvale. "There are center-based child-care providers and family child-care facilities."
Most home-based services have traditionally considered themselves to be "just baby sitters" instead of child-care providers who contribute to the community. By gaining knowledge about such options as accreditation and marketing, they can operate in a more professional manner and improve the quality of the care they provide as well as increase their income, Johnson said.
Although child-care programs and facilities are regulated by the state of California and not local governments, the city of Sunnyvale is involved with childcare issues in a variety of ways. A 1989 study on the city' s role in child care focused on the affordability, availability and quality of care for Sunnyvale residents and employees. The city also provides support and education to childcare providers to encourage highquality child care.
The city child-care staff also coordinates services offered to care providers by other departments, including public works, public safety, community development and the library.
More than 30 organizations that support child-care providers have signed up for the Resource Fair, including Community Care Licensing, the California Child Care Health Program and 4 C's Resources & Referrals. Resource material will be available, and staff from these organizations will be on hand to answer questions.
Concurrent workshops offered in English, Mandarin and Spanish on such topics as accreditation, marketing, and emergency preparedness, as well as a meeting with the child-care ombudsman of Community Care Licensing, will also take place at the Resource Fair.
Volunteers from the Language Bank of Sunnyvale, a service of Sunnyvale Community Services, will be present to assist with translations in Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese. With the increasing diversity in the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of Sunnyvale residents, there is a sharp rise in the demand for multilingual child-care providers.
The fair is being organized with the help of the Child Care Advisory Board, whose members have a broad range of experience in children's issues, in alliance with the North Valley Family to Family Consortium, a regional nonprofit organization.
The fair takes place Saturday from 8.30 a.m. to noon at the Sunnyvale Community Center, 550 Remington Drive. Admission is free.
For more information, contact Nancy Johnson at 730-7608.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 12, 1997.
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