Today’s Family – Report to the Community

It is such a pleasure to report back to you our staff, caregivers, volunteers and colleagues, that we, Today’s Family has had a terrific year.

Each year brings change, new challenges and new opportunities. We would like to report that this year is no different. In fact, there have been significant changes with Today’s Family and with child care in Ontario.

We are pleased to announce that in 2011, the Ministry of Education is now responsible for child care in Ontario.

As we move forward, we must have a focus on quality. Ontario needs a strong, healthy and sustainable child care sector to provide high quality care for children.

Leadership and collaboration:

On our own we can teach, help and care for the children in our midst. Together, with other organizations in our city and our province, we can help to make change and chart new directions for all children.

On that note, we are proud to report that Today’s Family is a member of the Quality Early Learning Network. The Quality Early Learning Network (QELN) represents 18 multi-site, not-for-profit child care agencies across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Halton, Hamilton, and London.

With many local and provincial partners, Today’s Family can help Ontario build a strong, integrated child care system for families.

Our year in just a few words is not going to be easy. The Annual Report highlights our past year. It tells our story.  Please read it, read it often and share it with those who are interested in knowing us and knowing what we are thinking about and doing regarding children and their families….. Our book tells it all.

Let me briefly tell you about Today’s Family and what makes us so special in the early childhood field.

• We run excellent Early Childhood Education programs for children and their families

• We work with over 50 community partners

• More than 80 youth have worked, volunteer or had coop experience with us this year, enriching our programs

• We have been lucky to have the support of over 8000 hours of youth volunteer time in fact I am pleased to report to you Brenda Ferguson is a recipient of a “Hamilton Employer Champion Award”. At a breakfast this year for Partners in Education sponsored by The Industry-Education Council of Hamilton (IEC), with over 500 people in attendance, Brenda received this award. Well done Brenda and thanks for representing us so well!

• We sent 45 children to overnight camp at Mount Nemo, yet another new partner. A big Thank you to Scout Leader Pat Hall and many volunteers

• We sent 2 of our management team to Reggio Emilia, Italy to further their knowledge and understanding of the Emergent curriculum

• Our gardens are flourishing

• We served more children this year than we did last year, opened new camp locations and a new before and after school program in Halton, a partnership with the Halton Public School Board

As for our wonderful staff we had a great summer, yet another year of reviewing applications, interviews, reference checks and hiring

•       Total  Applications Received 74

•       Total interviewed 39

•       Total reference checks 64

•       Total placed  in positions  23

•       A quarter of our staff in new positions

…and we created 2 new positions onto our Directors Team.  Congratulations to Deb Forster and Bernadette Noon – our newly appointed Associate Directors.

I would like to briefly give you a picture of the issues facing child care in Ontario today…

The QELN which includes Today’s Family believes urgent action is needed to achieve a sustainable integrated model for children and families in Ontario……..A modernization of child care. On October 7^th, 2011 the government of Ontario, whatever government that may be, must urgently turn its attention to child care and develop a model that is affordable and accessible for all children and families including:

• A new funding model for child care

• New legislation for licensed child care

• Developing and implementing a Human Resource Strategy to address the critical shortage of Registered Early Childhood Educators
  

Caring:

Caring. It is in our name. It is the essence of who we are. We care for the children who take part in our program, for their families, for our staff, for our community and for the environment.

Caring about staff celebrates the work of our staff and supports change.  Today’s Family would not be the innovative and nurturing organization that it is without our staff and our volunteers.  It supports our family-centred model of care. Staff are supported with balancing work and family life.  Caring allows our staff to be part of building vibrant communities; in their day to day work and in their volunteer contributions to the community.  It allows us to reflect on what we do and allows us to grow.

Caring contributes to our community.

Staff

Our Staff are leaders in the community, both in early learning and civic life. Did you know that staff from Today’s Family are active community members? Staff volunteer with: TEADS (horseback riding program for disabled), Children’s Aid Society, School councils, Bereaved Families of Ontario, and Relay for Life just to name a few. The board and management of Today’s Family would especially like to thank the staff and volunteers for their true caring, commitment and hard work.

In closing, my report back to you, as the C.E.O. of Today’s Family I would like to thank each and every one of you here to today, board members, staff, parents and colleagues. Together we can build a strong system for our children.

Please take a look at our Annual Report: http://www.todaysfamily.ca/TF_2011/index.html