Cooperative Works To Give Preschoolers Enriched Experience

When parents take kids to day care, they entrust a great deal of their children’s development to the child-care facility. After all, children spend the majority of their waking hours there. What parents wouldn’t want the best possible development and learning for their young ones?

Professionals in Early Childhood Education (PIECE) aims to develop quality child care in Spokane.

The cooperative is made up of several early childhood professionals, recruited from a letter sent to each child-care facility in Spokane. The letter resulted in 15 committed members.

When PIECE formed in May 1996, its goal was to identify and brainstorm solutions for common problems in child care.

More and more studies show that environment is important to a child’s brain development, said Lynne Sanders, PIECE adviser, which means it’s increasingly vital that people providing the care have knowledge and training

PIECE identified three focuses: small business development, education and training for employees, and links with social service for children’s special health-care needs.

The members are separated into task teams. The first is in charge of developing a substitute pool, which will have qualified, on-call people available to participating members of the cooperative.

The second task is setting up interest-free loans to equip child-care centers with environments that stimulate development.

PIECE also wants additional training for child-care providers so that they might provide one-on-one intervention for special needs children, which would involve more staff training.

To purchase supplies, equipment and materials at a reduced cost, the task force coordinated cooperative purchasing.

The last task team is devoted to lobbying for legislative action to improve child care. Some of its ideas include higher wages for staff, higher state paid child care for parents on public assistance, more federal food subsidies, and public education and awareness.

PIECE is currently applying for non-profit status and trying to become a subsidiary of the Eastern Washington Association of Education for Young Children.

PIECE can achieve its goals more rapidly with help from the community. It’s looking for businesses or people interested in child care who are willing to participate in the task groups, people with business experience willing to act as advisers to develop business strategies, persons willing to help with brochures or printing costs, and legal consultation specializing in non-profit organizations.

For information or to help, call Lynne Sanders at 324-1545.

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