Saturday, March 8, 2014

Getting Ready – Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources


“Establishing Professional Contacts”

The two early childhood professionals I chose to establish contact with is Albania and Singapore. The steps I took to communicate was very simple because this is something I have done in the past. My means of communication will be through email because I found out that phone calls would be very expensive.

What I found out this far is that The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is a membership organization that connects professionals and organizations working in the field of early childhood development and education. ISSA promotes equal access to quality education and care for all children, especially in the early years of their lives. Established in the Netherlands in 1999, ISSA’s network today stretches across the globe from Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia, Asia, and the Americas. While ISSA offers general membership and information-sharing to all interested individuals and organizations, ISSA’s core members are the 31 nongovernmental organizations, located primarily in Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia, that implement the Step by Step Program initiated by the Open Society Institute (OSI) in 1994. Within its network, ISSA supports a wide array of programs that collectively provide a comprehensive set of educational services and advocacy tools intended to influence policy reform for families and children, with a special focus on the years from birth through primary school.

OMEP's aim is to promote the optimum conditions for all children, in order to ensure their well-being, development and happiness, both within their family unit and the wider communities in which they live. This involves OMEP's assistance in any undertaking which will improve early childhood education in its wider interpretation.

“Expanding Resources”

The early childhood organization I chose was the The National Black Child Developmental Institute (NBCDI) that I am currently a member of. Since I am a current member of this organization my ability to establish communication was simple. The National Black Child Developmental Institute is a non-profit organization, located in Washington, DC in the United States, whose mission is to improve and protect the lives of African American children. The organization was established in 1970, and its current president is Carol Brunson Day.

Its mission is to improve and protect the lives of African American children, by focusing on the health, child welfare, education, and family support services and parenting. The NBCDI believes that African American children should experience having good health, a safe environment, support from family, to build a positive self- image, and to be proud of the African American culture. The NBCDI achieves this by having trained professionals and parents to be helpful to the African American children, by giving children more resources and tutoring to accomplish success, giving parents and human-service providers more resources to help the children.

The different programs that NBCDI have are Love To Read which helps children with literacy skills of an African American child at an early age. Another program is Parent Empowerment Project which it helps to educate, motivate the parents to be their child’s first teacher. Entering The College Zone is another program that NBCDI offers, it helps students and their parents by providing many skills and resources that will help with the college application process.

Historically, NBCDI has built a strong reputation for its work in early care and education and child welfare.  Over the years, our mission has benefited millions of children and their families.  As a leading organization working on behalf of children of color, NBCDI’s future is about growth and sustainability, forging new boundaries and promoting strengths-based programs and policies that lift up our children in the context of their families, communities and cultures.

Resources:

International Step By Step Association, http://www.issa.nl/network/albania/albania.html

Singapore Committee OMEP, http://www.omep-sgp.org/main.html

National Black Child Development Institute, http://nbcdi.org


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