SFTA Member Network:

Family Resource Centers (FRCs) and Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs)

Season's Greetings from SFTA
SFTA is Hiring an Executive Director
CCR&R & FRC Highlights
2023 SFTA Programming Data

Advocacy
Upcoming Events
SFTA Marketing Updates
Staff & Board Members

Season's Greetings from SFTA

As we enter the holiday season, SFTA would like to express our sincere gratitude to our generous funders and partners. Your unwavering support enables us to fulfill our mission of providing excellent child care, family, and provider resources across Wisconsin.

Over the next couple of months, we will be spotlighting the amazing support that our funders and partners have provided to help us achieve our goals on our various social media channels. Let's celebrate their contributions and continue to work together towards a brighter future for Wisconsin's children and families.

SFTA is Hiring an Executive Director!

SFTA seeks a visionary Executive Director to oversee all aspects of the organization's operations, provide strategic direction, and build partnerships to advance its mission. The role entails fund development, communication, and advocacy, representing SFTA's membership and the field of childhood education on state and national levels. The Executive Director will also provide staff support for the board of directors and its committees.

If you are interested in the position and want more information on how to apply, please click here.

CCR&R & FRC HIGHLIGHTS

Family Resource Center of Quality Accreditation Recognition

SFTA has officially launched Wisconsin’s Family Resource Center of Quality Accreditation with 6 agencies earning this designation. Accreditation is earned by agencies demonstrating best practices in the family support field and then participating in a comprehensive application process overseen by Supporting Families Together Association. This designation verifies that families accessing services at accredited FRCs are receiving high quality programs and support.

Congratulations to the following accredited agencies:

NEW Breastfeeding Recognition in Child Care Referrals!

SFTA has updated our child care referral search database to highlight providers that have earned their designation as Breastfeeding Friendly! As individuals search for child care, providers that have earned designation as breastfeeding friendly will have the following image appear for their program.

The Leadership Council on Early Years

The Leadership Council on Early Years (LCEY) is an interagency committee of state agency leaders to promote collaboration across the birth to five early care and education and family service field. During their October meeting, the Department of Children and Families introduced an interactive Dashboard that showcases child care trends throughout Wisconsin, both at a state and county level. When this dashboard is launched, it will be very informative for advocacy, grant writing, and various purposes to show the crisis Wisconsin’s child care field faces. For more information and to watch the recorded meeting, click here.

Statewide Group Child Care Capacity Gap Report

Check out this NEW report by the Child Care Resource & Referral Network with insight on group child care numbers throughout Wisconsin. This report highlights the staffing concerns, capacity challenges, and needed supports for our child care industry.

Donate

Giving Tuesday

As #GivingTuesday approaches, we would like you to consider donating to Supporting Families Together Association so we can continue to provide high quality services that positively impact children, parents, child care providers, and the field of early childhood throughout Wisconsin. Please help us kick off the day with your donation and sharing our message! Thank you!

You can donate via our website or our Stripe page with the donate button.

Join an Exciting New EC Cohort!

Supporting Neurodiverse Preschool Students and Social Emotional Learning Cohort is a new application of the Supporting Neurodiverse Students Professional Learning System (SNS), this series aims to provide adults with training and resources to implement evidence-based improvement strategies in support of preschool-aged students with significantly divergent social and emotional learning needs. Each session will focus on an area of need, using a skills-based approach to help adults better understand behaviors they find challenging and improve students’ social awareness and emotional regulation. All content aligns with the SNS, emphasizing developmentally appropriate application within a preschool context.

This cohort starts on DECEMBER 4th- so sign up ASAP; the Winter Cohort Registration deadline is 12/1/23, and the Spring Cohort Registration deadline is 3/6/24.

The primary audience for this cohort is anyone supporting 3-5 year-old children with challenging behaviors. Teams of

educators are encouraged to attend together! Great opportunity for community partners, paraprofessionals, and parents as well.

Click here to learn more and register.

2023 SFTA Statewide Network Programming by the Numbers

Pre-Licensing Data

CCR&R Data

Training Data

Tribal/Rural Training Data

FRC Data

Advocacy Updates

NEW Advocacy Page

SFTA recently launched a brand-new Advocacy Page. The page showcases the collaborative Advocacy Day with United Way of Wisconsin, SFTA’s Advocacy Statement of Purpose, Resources, and a section where people from all over Wisconsin can share their stories. Please share this webpage with families that you work with so they can tell their story of how the child care or family support system has impacted them.

We will use stories shared when advocating for funding for early childhood and family support services. You can visit the advocacy page by clicking on the link here.

Upcoming Events

11/29 - Building Vaccine Confidence: Childhood Vaccination in a Post-Pandemic World

With the recent decline in overall childhood vaccination rates, accurate vaccine knowledge is crucial to continue building vaccine confidence. This free Families Canada webinar is an opportunity to ask questions, gain clarity on the wide range of vaccine-related information, and build confidence in discussing vaccination with clients in the family support sector.

More information and registration here.

12/5 & 12/6 - LEARN Institute 2023

Zero to Three's LEARN Institute is designed to advance in-depth exploration, reflection, and considerations for application in practice. It brings together infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and early childhood education professionals (ECE) from diverse backgrounds for a two-day deep dive into one of the top issues facing this field. Scholarships are also available. Register here before 12/1.

12/4-12/7 - Foundational Child Sex Abuse Prevention Training - Circles of Safety: Awareness to Action for Youth-Serving Professionals

This core training from Stop It Now equips youth-serving professionals to prevent child sex abuse through learning how to strengthen protective factors that support children’s healthy and safe sexual development, identify and respond to warning signs in children and adult’s behaviors in their programs, and design safety plans to address safe boundaries, privacy, consent and respect. This 12-hour virtual training (delivered over 4 days) is a mix of lecture, discussion, reflection, and exercises. Register here.

2/26-28 Wisconsin Head Start Association - 2024 Annual Conference

Wisconsin Head Start Association is hosting the 22nd annual training conference titled Caring, Compassionate, Committed. This theme references the ability of every Head Start staff member to to show genuine concern for the well-being of others, to empathize with their feelings and needs, and to follow through on promises and responsibilities. This conference will be held at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in the Wisconsin Dells.

The room block deadline is January 26, 2024. Click HERE for the booking website! For any questions, contact Brian at [email protected]

Snapshot of SFTA's Members

Find your local CCR&R and FRC here!

SFTA Marketing Updates

Helping Children’s Mental Health During the Holidays – Holiday Campaign

SFTA has launched a marketing campaign for the holiday season that focuses on ways parents and families can help their children's mental health during this time. The excitement that comes with the holidays can sometimes be overwhelming for kids, with breaks in routine and social gatherings. This campaign aims to assist families by giving them tips and referring them to CCR&Rs and FRCs for resources they may need this holiday season. You can check out the first post of this series here.