September 15, 2025 Vol. 55, No. 10

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

And the Winner is... | A Note from the President

Join Us! | FREE Board Training Session | Regional Co-op Collectives

Sponsor Profile: Wild Med | Creating "Safe Space" Policies

Grant Recipient Recap | Grant Evaluators

School is in full swing now, and we hope your community is settling into routines and building new relationships. We know that the start of a school year means calendars full of community events, fundraisers, and co-op days, but don't forget to leave room for some upcoming PCPI offerings highlighted below.

PCPI grant opportunities also open next month! You'll find an update from one of last year's grant recipients below, and be on the lookout for more information about the grant application process coming soon.

Within this issue of Cooperatively Speaking, we also want to direct you to some resources that you've been asking for pertaining to recent changes to immigration policy. Several organizations are doing the work to support early childhood programs and our immigrant neighbors, and we'll introduce you to a few of those below.

Do you have an idea about a topic you'd like to see us cover in Cooperatively Speaking? Is there something special about your school community that you'd like to see highlighted? Have you held a creative fundraiser successfully? Let us know!

Cooperatively yours,

Melissa Ranck

Editor, Cooperatively Speaking

pcpinews@preschools.coop

As we head into National Co-op Month in October, I’d like to encourage you to take some time to reflect on the impact your co-op has on the world. Many of our programs have been operating for 20, 50, or even 100 years. Have you ever considered how many families your school has welcomed, supported, nurtured, and sent out into the world a little better off from knowing you? Families may move on physically, but children and their grown-ups keep their co-op experience with them forever, and quite often their co-op friendships become life-long.

Through the work that you do in your co-op day in and day out, you are helping to build a better world. When families can work together to create exactly the preschool experience they want and need, it gives them a voice as they start their educational journey, it teaches them to be an advocate for their child and an active participant in education, and at the same time it helps to build strong community connections. 

National Co-op Month is an opportunity to raise awareness of a trusted, proven way to do business and to build resilient, inclusive communities. It’s also a chance to lift up and celebrate the people-centered businesses like ours that are at the heart of our communities and economies. Cooperatives truly do build a better world!

Throughout Co-op Month, increase visibility for your school and the larger cooperative community by using #CoopMonth for your social media posts in October in addition to our usual #pcpischools and #pcpiteachers.

Thinking about becoming a member of PCPI? Membership is open to schools, councils, libraries, and individuals who recognize the value of parents as teachers and the necessity of educating parents to meet the developmental needs of their children. Cooperative Month is the perfect time to join us! During the month of October, new members joining PCPI are eligible for a special, buy one-get one offer!

Current members: PCPI has gone digital! Invitations to renew membership will be emailed to the school contacts on file by this Friday. If you have not received an email by Friday afternoon, please check your spam folders and email us at treasurer@preschools.coop with your preferred email address. Additionally, memberships can be renewed at any time on our website. Thank you for your continued partnership with PCPI!

Let PCPI help get your board members up to speed! This virtual training will cover topics like duties as a board member, best practices for governance, financial responsibility, and more. Training is expected to last two hours to allow for Q&A, and attendees will receive a certificate.

Two opportunities to attend!

Monday, October 20

10 am PST/1 pm EST

Sunday, October 26

4 pm PST/7 pm EST

Offered via Zoom and will be recorded for future PCPI use

This training is FREE for PCPI members. If you are a staff member or caregiver at a member school, this means you!

Last spring we held our first ever "huddles" to give schools an opportunity to gather together within regions. We were so excited to build connections within the Northeast, Southeast, and East Central regions. Announcing three additional huddles happening for co-op schools and interested parties in the following provinces and states:

West Central

Huddle

October 29

7 pm CST

Manitoba, Saskatchewan

Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas

Mountain West Huddle

November 10

4 pm MST

Alberta

Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Pacific West

Huddle

November 19

4 pm PST

British Columbia

Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington



Huddles will take place virtually and are open to PCPI members and non-members. Topics on the agenda may include: operations with/without a local council, common challenges, boosting enrollment, legislative issues, co-op success stories. Registration coming soon!

Live in one of these regions and want to contribute by facilitating a huddle alongside a PCPI board member? Reach out!

If you've been around the co-op world for a bit, it's likely you may have heard of Wild Med, a consistent financial partner and supporter of the work we do at PCPI. This month we'd love to highlight the work they do!

Thank you to Wild Med for your ongoing support of PCPI! Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact PCPI to learn more!

PCPI has received several questions recently regarding how to address safety concerns following federal immigration policy changes that may impact early childhood programs. We are grateful for the work done by other organizations that can guide us as we consider the potential impact on our communities.

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has updated this thorough document, A Guide to Creating “Safe Space” Policies for Early Childhood Programs. Within this guide, you'll find:

• An overview of safe space policies including a summary of current immigration policies and their impact on early childhood programs
• How to create a safe space policy including a sample template
• Key resources for parents and providers including knowing your rights and supporting immigrant parents

Additionally, Action for Children has developed extensive resources pertaining to immigration in their Resource Library. Within the PDF document "Immigration Resources for Child Care Professionals," you'll find links to a number of helpful resources including:

• Immigrant Legal Resource Center's "Preparing for Possible Immigration Enforcement"
• Center for Child Stress and Health at Florida State University's "How to Talk to a Child Worried about Deportation"
• Other resources pertaining to trauma-informed care for immigrant children

The resources and information provided here are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Please consult a qualified attorney for legal advice. 

Did you know that the window for PCPI grant applications opens next month? Be on the lookout for more information--we hope you might consider how your school community could benefit from grant funding! To get your creative juices flowing, we wanted to share an update from one of our 2025 grant recipients, Virginia co-op FB Meekins Cooperative Preschool.

Early this year, FB Meekins was awarded an $800 Anne Eddowes Cooperative Spirit Grant to support the creation of an experiential learning garden in honor of Theresa Buxton, a longtime teacher who has spent countless hours tending to their garden. FB Meekins Director and Teacher Sarah Erdman shares:

"In the spring, families came and put together all of the garden beds. Then, the students helped rake up the leaves that were leftover on the playground and fill the bottom of the containers with sticks, decomposing logs and leaves, a great way to reuse some of the materials already on our playground! It also led to a great discussion about decomposition, what purpose the soil and compost serves, and why we wouldn't use trash or plastic in the garden bed.

"When our order of native plants came in, the kids helped plant them. The students were so enamored by the planting process that we used extra dirt, put it in a sensory table and bought some hardy seedlings (pansies, marigolds, etc.) that they were able to plant and re-plant. We took care of it throughout the summer, and most of the plants took hold very nicely. We will get more blooms next year, and it should grow in even more over the fall and next spring, so even though the photos are mostly green leaves right now, just wait until next spring and summer!

"There were some side benefits to the project as well that we hadn't anticipated. It spurred us on to complete our state tax exempt certificate so we could save on soil and seedlings (something we had in process but hadn't gotten the "oomph" to finish). We also got in touch with our neighbors and are going to be replacing the fencing along the backside of the "woodland area" where the garden is so we can clean up and expand our plantings over there. Finally, it encouraged us to move our sign from a now unused entrance to a more prominent place along the drive in!"

Thank you to FB Meekins Cooperative Preschool for sharing an update with us! Applications for several PCPI grants are coming soon, and we can't wait to hear your ideas!

Love the co-op community and looking for a way to get involved and have a broader impact? Consider joining our committee of grant evaluators! This group meets in the winter to review applications for the grants available through PCPI. This role is perfect for anyone who only has a little time to give but wants to be inspired by the amazing projects happening within cooperative schools. Curious to learn more? Contact us!

Thank you to our sponsors:

Jovial

Resources For Parenting

Wild Med

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact PCPI to learn more!