Louisiana Living ​| Sarah Floyd with the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana joined Ashley Doughty on Louisiana Living to talk about School Readiness Tax Credits. Click here to learn more about the tax credits.

​The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana is a charity organization devoted to seeing to the health and development of local children. With over 20 different programs across northern Louisiana, members of the Children’s Coalition work tirelessly to see that all the needs of local children are met. As a Louisiana Child Care Resources and Referral Agency, the Children’s Coalition is authorized to receive donations through the School Readiness Tax Credit program. The SRTC program allows local businesses to support the Coalition with charitable donations and receive dollar-for-dollar credits on their state taxes, up to a maximum amount of $5000. These donations help the Coalition expand its early education programs, many of which focus on the development of children under 5 years old.

The deadline to receive tax credits is fast approaching; all donations must be postmarked by December 31, 2020, in order to process them for next year’s tax return. This is an excellent opportunity for local businesses to support their community, help low-income families access education resources, and receive a sizable break on their taxes. Research has shown that children under age 3 absorb information at an incredible rate compared to even just a few years later. Seeing to children’s development at a young age helps them develop critical thinking and social skills. Businesses that donate through the SRTC program can actually see their tax dollars put to use in the education of local children, and there is no minimum requirement! So, if you or someone you know has a business please consider participating in the SRTC program. For more information, or to make a SRTC donation, please click on the link below.

Bayou Life Magazine | What are School Readiness Tax Credits? You have the power to decide where your tax dollars go. With no minimum and $5,000 maximum, businesses who contribute will receive a dollar-for-dollar refundable credit on Louisiana State taxes. In 2007, the Louisiana Legislature passed a unique package of tax credits known as the School Readiness Tax Credits (SRTC). These credits are a refundable state tax credit for donations made to Louisiana Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies, such as Children's Coalition for Northeast Louisiana. 

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Now, more than ever, early learning leaders need support to bring forth an ambitious vision for Louisiana’s youngest. As center directors consider what the future may hold, the Louisiana Early Leaders Academy offers the opportunity to build leadership skills and a network of peers who support each other for their success and most importantly, ambitious goals for young children.

Year One fellows report that this program is transformative. Learn more through this short promotional video or by visiting the LELA website.

Whether you are currently open or not, if you are a Type III center rated Proficient or Above, you are eligible to apply. The deadline for applications is May 22.
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The Leaders Academy is structured to provide a support the implementation of new learning into practice, including:

• Individualized Focus: At the beginning of the fellowship program, each participant takes a needs assessment and gathers teacher satisfaction data from their staff. This information provides baseline data for each fellows to best inform training content, and provide metrics to evaluate growth over the course of the program.
• Bimonthly online training sessions: Live learning session are led by experts in the early learning field, on key topics related to instructional leadership. Fellows will learn about managing systems changes, building strong teams, and improving program operations, among other content areas. One key area of focus is time management. In order to support an ambitious vision for children and families, leaders must prioritize practices that build the quality of teacher-child interactions in their centers. Through LELA, fellows learn approaches to managing time, and receive coaching support to implement new practices.
• A personal coach: Monthly, one-on-one coaching sessions are designed to identify specific goals for building instructional leadership skills, and reinforce the training session content. 
• A community of peers: In addition the directors from across the state and connection with Year One fellows, each leader will have a “Home Team.” An intimate peer group that supports each other through monthly meetings.
• Exclusive opportunities to learn from national and state leaders in early childhood education.

Our Early Head Start Beverly Center was buzzing this morning - we welcomed countless elected officials, community partners and state leaders to learn more about the importance of quality child care for Louisiana Early Ed Week. 

This statewide event is an initiative of the Louisiana Association of United Ways in partnership with the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children. We were happy to host the Monroe stop and welcomed our partners, the United Way of Northeast Louisiana. This statewide event is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield and Entergy and we are proud to partner with each of them for the upcoming Children's Coalition Dragon Boat Festival. 

Our elected officials included Representative Michael Echols, State Representative Chris Turner, Sterlington, Louisiana Mayor Ceasar Velasquez, Mayor Jamie Mayo, West Monroe Mayor Staci Albritton Mitchell. Hannah Livingston attended on behalf of Senator John Kennedyand Erika Guerrero attended on behalf of Senator Stewart Cathey Jr.. 

In the business sector, we welcomed Lila Strode with the West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce, Glen Gibson with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Debbie Horstmann and Katy Temple from St. Francis Medical Center, Monroe, La., Adam O'Neal with Origin Bank and Matt Smith from BancorpSouth. 

The Early Head Start Beverly Center is located on the Monroe Housing Authority. We are forever grateful for their continued support at our centers and we look forward to continuing our partnership to serve our community. Representing the Housing Authority was William Smart, Temika Cooks and Karen Crowell. 
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Investing in early childhood is crucial for the long term success of our region. To learn more about all of our early childhood programs and see how you can support us, visit childrenscoalition.org

​MONROE, La. (KNOE) - State leaders made a stop in Northeast Louisiana on Wednesday to discuss educational needs in the area. They paid a visit to schools in Ouachita and Richland parishes.

Source: KNOEThey observed teacher-student interactions and discussed the state's early childhood performance system along with ways to expand access to affordable high-quality early childhood care.

Jessica Baghian, Asst. Superintendent of the Louisiana Dept. of Education said, "If we do not have affordable quality care, we're losing nearly a billion dollars a year in economic value for the state because employees cannot go to work and school in a reliable way. We know that without affordable care, families also cannot take that job or go to school to raise their families to better economic means."
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State Senator Jay Morris was also in attendance. He says improvements must be made in state funding in order for early childhood education to thrive.

The News Star | Without access to daycare, people could be forced to choose between holding a job or not. And if children don't have access to activities that help to enrich their minds, they can start school at a disadvantage.

Early childhood education looks to expand the idea of learning starting at kindergarten to a process that starts at birth and continues through the traditional K-12 environment.

These centers are so much more than babysitting. It's a way for children and their families to get the services they need for success in academics, in health and in life going forward.

On Thursday, Louisiana Department of Education Assistant Superintendent Jessica Baghian and state lawmakers toured the Early Head Start Center on Filhiol Avenue in Monroe. It was part of a tour highlighting successful early childhood programs across the state.
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The Children's Coalition of Northeast Louisiana runs five EHS facilities in Monroe and West Monroe. In total, they serve 132 children daily.

The Franklin Sun, WINNSBORO, LA: Two Franklin Parish state-funded early childhood centers were recently recognized as showing significant growth in a Louisiana Department of Education report.

Fort Necessity School and Future Blossom’s Child Care were listed in the Top Gains category by the Department of Education.

In 2016-2017, Louisiana began reporting performance data for all publicly funded early childhood programs, including early childhood centers, Head Start programs and pre-kindergarten sites, as a way to measure core elements needed for positive child outcomes, provide a clear and focused path to improvement, and give families an easy way to compare choices in their community.