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N.C. Governor Appoints CCSA President Marsha Basloe to State Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs
Child Care Services Association President Marsha Basloe Brings the Perspective of Early Childhood Homelessness to N.C. Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs.
Chapel Hill, N.C., April 8, 2022: Child Care Services Association (CCSA) is excited to announce that on April 6, 2022, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper appointed Child Care Services Association President Marsha Basloe to the North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs.
Basloe offers the Council expertise in services for young children under 6 in families experiencing homelessness. She has worked as an advocate of child homelessness through various programs such as the U.S. Interagency Workgroup on Family Homelessness and the Office of Early Childhood Development at the Administration for Children and Families.
“I am honored to be named to Governor Cooper’s North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs. It means that early childhood now has a place as part of the state’s work to serve families experiencing homelessness,” said Basloe. “Together, early childhood policy and homelessness policy can help mitigate the negative impacts of homelessness on young children and support their development, health and well-being.”
Research has established a strong connection between a young child’s early experiences and the development of their brain structure. Homelessness jeopardizes the health, early childhood development and educational well-being of infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children. It also creates unique barriers to participating in early care and education.
With nearly 50 percent of children living in federally funded homeless shelters under the age of 5, this is a problem for families, communities, states and the country. And there are concerns today that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased family homelessness even more.
CCSA offers a plethora of resources for child care professionals, family shelters, policymakers, community members and families to learn more and combat early childhood homelessness on its website.
Basloe and CCSA look forward to working with the North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs on aligning both early childhood policy and homelessness policy in our state.
Child Care Services Association
Founded in 1974, the mission of Child Care Services Association (CCSA) is to lead efforts to strengthen accessible and affordable quality early care and education by providing supports for families, communities and the workforce. To that end, CCSA provides free child care referral services to families, financial assistance to low-income families seeking child care and professional development and technical assistance to child care programs. Through spoonFULL, CCSA also provides nutritious meals to children at child care centers, where they may eat 50-100 percent of their meals. Throughout North Carolina, educational scholarships from CCSA’s T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Scholarship Program give child care professionals the means to obtain a debt-free education, while CCSA’s Child Care WAGE$® and Infant-Toddler Educator AWARD$ Plus® programs supplement their meager salary. CCSA also licenses T.E.A.C.H. and WAGE$ across the U.S. through the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® National Center at CCSA and conducts early childhood systems and homelessness research and policy development statewide and nationally. For more information, visit childcareservices.org.
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