September 2021 Newsletter

YMCA OF GREATER LONG BEACH EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Food Dist ribut ion In partnership with ECE Board Member, Joey King, our preschools were able to provide thousands of boxes of food to YMCA families as well as the neighboring community. As more families experience the economic impact of the pandemic, we are glad to be able to help put food on the table. A team of committed childcare providers spent several Sunday?s unpacking and distributing palettes of donations to the long line of vehicles that pulled in.

Look out for future distribution of food and essential items.

SEPTEMBER 2021

Saf et y Around Wat er Drowning is the second leading cause of death for children. Since we have direct access to pools, we knew we had to be part of the solution for families enrolled our preschools.

Even during a pandemic, we have continued our initiative of providing all preschool children with free Safety Around or SAW curriculum and swimming lessons as part of a partnership with the Fairfield Family YMCA. Each child is offered transportation, education about water safety, and a total of 8 lessons over the course of a month.

This summer, children from YMCA Play & Learn, 70th Street and Creative Beginnings preschools completed the SAW program and became more water safe.

Doorst ep t o Kindergart en It?s that time of the year again when our oldest students transition to kindergarten. Our teachers have mixed feelings, proud of the significant development their students made since their first day, which often included tears and resistance. Eventually, our children learn to love our carefree learning environment and have so much fun that they want to extend the time they can stay. The parent- teacher collaboration, based on mutually supporting the child towards achieving milestones, sets children up to be Kindergarten ready and successful in the years that follow. Parents, thank you for all you did to make this a wonderful last year of preschool for your child.

BUILDING BRIGHTER FUTURES NOW ENROLLING LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE!

Employee of t he Mont h This year we initiated a new program to recognize and celebrate employees who go above and beyond. The Employee of the Month involves recognizing employees for achieving excellence in their field, and being someone who see?s their work as more than just a job, but also as a mission, with programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all. Every month, a new employee will be recognized from each one of our preschools, to celebrate their successes and ensure that they know just how much their hard work is appreciated.

First Annual PAC Picnic Our first annual Parent Advisory Committee Family Picnic was filled with smiles and laughter! A huge thank you to our 2020- 2021 PAC parents for all that you have done for our program and for pushing through all the monthly zoom meetings. We appreciate you!Our Parent Coordinator, Maria Perez, deserves kudos for building the PAC into what it is today. It was great having everyone together in person for the first time! Look out for the upcoming 2021- 22 Parent Advisory Committee, the family picnic is one of many bonuses?families receive by participating in the committee

Preschool Sport s In the month of July, our five preschools partnered with the Los Altos Family YMCA to bring preschool sports to our facilities. The preschool sports program is designed for preschool age young athletes, through parent/child interaction, kids are exposed to four different sports: Flag Football, Basketball, Soccer and Tee Ball. Getting kids active and strengthening the family unit, parents were expected to be involved and work with their child during instruction. All around, children had fun, gained experience and have since pursued little league sports to help grow their love of the sport that began at the Y. Parents shared they had a little fun too!

Communit y Impact To meet our goal of strengthening community, the Y supports youth development, inspires healthy living and makes an impact on the local community in many ways. Community engagement starts by welcoming community members, to listen, to learn, and to strengthen understanding. This summer, we hosted a booth at both the First Annual Juneteenth Celebration and Activate Artesia, part of the Uptown Jazz Festival, to share about the Y's mission. Meeting the community at these events helps spread the mission of the Y and informs families of the amazing programs we offer. To improve our program quality, and provide access to resources in the community, the Y makes sure to listen to needs of its participants.

7 t h Annual Bring Me A Book Celebrat ion In case you missed our virtual Seventh Annual Bring Me a Book Graduation Celebration, watch this short video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P7N6BfDti8) about how we encourage and celebrate reading for 30 Weeks each year. Congrats to the 165 families that committed to and completed this outstanding journey together during a once in a lifetime pandemic! Together we let our young readers know that READING ROCKS! Also recently, we highlight the Literacy Angel, Barbara Egyud, who brought this incredible program to our preschools in 2014, through a dedication of a special painting

by Rob Padilla, that is displayed in our corporate office lobby, paying tribute to the thousands of seeds of imagination and learning that Eguyd planted in the bookbags of children across Long Beach and beyond.

A Message f rom t he Execut ive Direct or It?s been a tumultuous last year and a half. Thank you, for all that you've done to help our Y to emerge from a series of crisis. We have withstood a global pandemic, constant changes in protocol, bumps in the virtual road, and our early childhood education programs have thrived.

So many of us had our character tested, our weaknesses exposed, but we took the opportunity to imagine how this hardship could make us stronger, driven by our mission to find opportunities to be supportive in times of need. Most of it would not have been possible without the dedication and resilience of many of our readers, who when faced with the challenge of our lifetimes boldly said, we are not stepping down. We are going to engage.

We found ways to offer computers, WiFi access, teacher scholarships, essential household items, food, PPE supplies, rental assistance, ESL classes, and swim lessons, our community of partners stepped up to help us make sure that every family in our program, all our students and their siblings, could have access. These challenges helped us strengthen our agency. This space and time afforded some of us the opportunity to leverage our friendships, community relationships, our networks on our boards and recognize our true potential as leaders and servant leaders.

We are also excited to announce the addition of two new ECE Board members, Dr. Gabby Cervantes, and pediatric Dentist, and Dr. Nina Richardson, a University Administrator. Each brings a valuable set of skills and perspective, and we are grateful to have them serve on our board.

Celebrate yourselves right now. In Y Service,

Andrea Sulsona Executive Director, Early Childhood Education

Teachers Give So Much Let?s face it. This school year has been weird. But we?re getting through it, in part thanks to our amazing teachers. Although teachers put an amazing amount of effort into preparing students for their future, their contribution is sometimes overlooked. Even teachers themselves may forget just how important their contributions are. With teachers under constant time pressure, keeping up with constantly changing mandates, there is rarely an opportunity to reflect on the impact they have on students as individuals and to celebrate the lifelong ripple effect that your daily effort brings. Since March 2020, we have observed our teachers stepping even higher up to all the challenges. There are the things people see, like teaching lessons, holding meetings, and keeping kids on track. Also, there is the work most people do not see like searching online for fun classroom design ideas or showing up for a walking group to spend time with the families of the children they work with. We wanted to let our teachers know, we see you and appreciate all you do.

YMCA of Greater Long Beach Early Childhood Education 3605 Long Beach Blvd.

Suite 210F Long Beach, CA 90807

The mission of the YMCA of Greater Long Beach Early Childhood Education Programs is to passionately serve communities to develop a stronger future; to provide children with access to quality child care programs that help them develop school readiness skills, while supporting their families to be active and engaged members of their communities.

70t h St reet Preschool 700 70th Street Long Beach, CA 90805 562.634.4924 Creat ive Beginnings Preschool 5600 Linden Ave. Long Beach, CA 90805 562.422.2616 First Friendships Preschool 6650 Orange Ave. Long Beach, CA 90805 562.984.2358 www.LBymca.org

Mayne Preschool 9630 Mayne Street Bellflower, CA 90706 562.804.1976 Play & Learn Preschool 2179 Pacific Ave. Long Beach, CA 90806 562.218.4693 MAIN OFFICE 3605 Long Beach Blvd.

Suite 210F Long Beach, CA 90807 562.279.1624

EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR Andrea Sulsona BOARD OF MANAGERS Colleen Triesch, Board Chair Vivan Ainis, Secretary Chris Petit, Treasurer Dr. Gabriela Cervantes Joey King Vivian Malauulu Jeanette Polk Dr. Eddie Quan Nina Richardson Melanie Steele Luisa Valladolid Mary View- Schneider