Newark CARES Network (NCN) was launched in May 2022 by NTE in partnership with Unified Vailsburg Services Organization (UVSO) and Clinton Hill Community & Early Childhood Center (Clinton Hill). 

A loss in the family forced Tanya Davis to give up her career and stay home with her child. Her sister owned a childcare center and asked Tanya to work with her. That was more than 19 years ago. Tanya found that she loved working with children and families. When she moved to a larger home, she decided to start her own Family Child Care and began the process of setting up Beautiful Beginnings. She gained her CDA and educated herself on running a home child care and Beautiful Beginnings grew from strength to strength. Tanya’s message is: “Child care is not babysitting! It is showing children the world!” 

 

Research shows that strengthened early learning helps children succeed in school and establish productive post-secondary futures. It also shows that FCC homes are the preferred early learning option for many low-income families of color and that FCC educators play these important roles in their communities: early educator, business owner, and community connector. However, FCC educators face significant barriers to reaching their potential. Investing in this sector is a critical step in ensuring equitable outcomes for low-income children of color. The Newark Trust for Education, Unified Vailsburg Services Organization, and Clinton Hill Community and Early Childhood Center with support from the Leon and Toby Cooperman Family Foundation, launched a partnership in 2022 for strengthening the FCC sector. 

Our initiative, Newark Capacity Access and Resources for Early Success (Newark CARES) consists of staffed networks that improve the quality of early learning opportunities available to children in all five wards of the city, and to help minority- and women-owned FCC homes become thriving community hubs. The network supports direct funding, coaching, peer learning, and connections to critical resources for member FCCs. Continuous improvement cycles support the refinement of our network-level approach, as well as FCC providers’ site-based approaches. We designed Newark CARES with rich input from FCC providers and families who choose FCC homes to care for their children. We are excited to share an infographic summarizing what we learned through numerous interviews and conversations. Click here to view the infographic in English and Spanish! We intend to work with local and national funders to develop new networks in the other four wards of Newark in 2023 and beyond. 

Please follow us at https://www.facebook.com/newarktrust for updates on Newark CARES! Please reach out to [email protected] with your questions and comments.

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