[Archived] City of Alexandria to Honor Outstanding Family Child Care Providers At Awards Dinner

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

City of Alexandria to Honor Outstanding
Family Child Care Providers At Awards Dinner

The Alexandria Office for Early Childhood Development and the Quality Initiative Planning Committee will co-sponsor a Family Child Care Provider award dinner this Friday, May 31 at 6:30 pm at Resurrection Episcopal Church at 2280 North Beauregard St. Twenty-eight providers will receive monetary awards for completing training and/or education in early childhood education above and beyond the minimum required by City child care policy. The highest awards will be given to providers who are accredited and have also earned the Child Development Associate credential or their Associate of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education. The funding for this pilot project comes from a Child Care and Development Fund Quality Initiative grant through the Virginia Department of Social Services.

The awards range from $200 to $250 for most providers. One award of $350 will be given to a provider who has earned her Child Development Associate Credential and is accredited through the National Association for Family Child Care. The highest award is $675 and will go to a provider who has completed all but one course toward her Associate of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education in addition to six hours in early childhood workshops, in addition to training in CPR and First Aid.

Carol Farrell, the Director of the City’s Office for Early Childhood Development, states that, “The purpose of this bonus/incentive program is to reward providers for improving their knowledge and skills in early childhood education and to encourage them to continue to work toward their educational goals.”

Tiffany Barksdale, Chair of the Alexandria Family Child Care Association, says about the incentive program, “With providers working extremely hard to provide quality care for the children of Alexandria, its nice to know that all they’ve done is appreciated. The awards will make the providers feel good about what they do and will make them want to do even better.”

Meg O’Regan, Director of the Alexandria Department of Human Services, stated, “This program is just one example of Alexandria's commitment to quality child care. This commitment is also reflected in a recent issue of the Ladies Home Journal in which Alexandria was named the number one City in the country for child care.”

For more information about the incentive program or the awards dinner, contact Carol Farrell, Director of the Office for Early Childhood Development, at 703.838.0785.

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