Stillwater, OKLA. - Donna Zamskie is one of Stillwater’s newest A.N.G.E.L.S. and she’s already making a difference for kids, their parents, caregivers, employers and the economy in Payne County. A recent graduate of the Access Network Group of Early Learning Substitutes or A.N.G.E.L.S., Donna is just the latest success story from the Stillwater United Way’s Success By Six initiative.
The ANGELS program trains individuals interested in working as substitute caregivers for daycare facilities. ANGELS complete a 30 hour curriculum that includes first aid and CPR training, the ELCCT entry level child care training and mentoring visits to local facilities as well as a background check. Donna Zamskie learned about the program from her son’s daycare center. She was intrigued by the potential for a flexible schedule and the chance to work and still spend time with her son. As an ANGELS graduate, Zamskie says she’s gotten a great reception from local providers and is working as many hours as she wants in a facility in her neighborhood.
Stillwater’s ANGELS are modeled on a program in San Antonio, Texas but the need for ANGELS here was identified in focus groups with local business leaders and childcare providers. Regina Hall, the Director of Stillwater’s Success By Six, says there was an immediate consensus that training for caregivers was one way to increase the number of highly rated day care facilities locally.
“Everyone was in favor of training but when we looked more closely, we found that a lack of qualified substitutes made it almost impossible for facilities to send caregivers to classes and still meet the state-required staff/child ratios,” said Hall.
“The situation was even more unrealistic when sick days and turnover were considered.”
Hall said discussions with local leaders made it clear that the trickledown effect of a missing caregiver goes beyond children and their parents. When those parents are unable to meet work commitments local employers are faced with a missing or distracted employees and the local economy suffers lower productivity and lost business.
Local centers and family childcare providers are partners in the program, agreeing to pay workers with the additional training a wage of seven dollars an hour and to complete evaluations on the ANGELS in order to improve future training.
Already 20 local childcare sites have contracted with Success By Six for access to the ANGELS. The providers are given contact information for the graduates and the ANGELS themselves are given a list of certified providers.
Parents can identify ANGELS, not from wings, but from Blue and Olive t-shirts distributed to graduates. Even the children are likely to notice them thanks to another secret weapon…teacher resources from Child Care Links.
The ANGELS program, like all Success By 6 projects is a collaboration. This one includes a partnership with the Resource and Referral Specialist for the Delaware tribe Child Care Links housed in the OSU Family Resource Center, Laura Arnold. She offers the ANGELS special books and program ideas when they’re called to substitute so the effects of the program are amplified further.
But good ideas are only a small part of Arnold’s participation. She is also a current participant in a statewide child advocacy group called Kids Count Leaders. Her goal is to develop permanent funding to expand the ANGELS ranks through quarterly training programs. Success By Six provided resources for the first class as part of a comprehensive training plan.
“We were fortunate to get a start up grant from Success By Six in order to launch the ANGELS program in Stillwater,” said Arnold. “The fact that 20 providers have contracted for access to our first graduates confirms the need for trained substitutes here.”
Stillwater has been the fortunate recipient of $145-thouand in Success By Six grants from Bank of America since 2001. However Bank of America is discontinuing the sponsorship and Success By Six in now looking for local funding as well.
Ideally, Stillwater would offer ANGELS training four times a year with fifteen participants in each class. The cost for materials and background checks would be about $2,500 per session or $10,000 annually. Arnold hopes local businesses will consider that amount a small insurance policy against the real cost of lost productivity.
Success by Six considers the ANGELS a great example of the benefits to everyone when children are helped to succeed in life by being ready to learn when it’s time for school. Success by Six is entering its fourth year of service to Stillwater. It’s administered through United Way but funded entirely through grants. The local program began when Peggy McCormick wrote a successful grant proposal that was funded in 2001. That $15,000 planning grant from Bank of America provided money for initial research on Stillwater’s needs and the development of proposed solutions. Stillwater received an $80,000 grant in 2002 to implement Success by Six. Only 14 other Oklahoma communities won funding from Bank of America. And in 2003, Stillwater received another $50,000 grant.
Regina Henry joined the program in 2002, working out of the Stillwater Area United Way offices. She says Success by Six owes has been able to accomplish so much in Stillwater thanks to effective partnerships. Local partners include the Warren Clinic for health care, The Payne County Health Clinic for immunizations, OSU for student interns, business leaders and childcare providers for issue identification and resources, and the Stillwater Public Library for reading programs. Community volunteers like Richmond Elementary School principal Gaye Washington have provided leadership for Stillwater initiatives.
On October 30, Success by Six will host Oklahoma First Lady Pam Henry for a Childwatch Tour of Stillwater. The goal will be to educate the local community and business leaders on the importance of the early childhood programs already in place and to identify emerging needs. Stillwater’s Child Advocacy Center, a United Way Agency, was created following a Childwatch Tour.
Stillwater’s United Way is in the midst of a $720,000 campaign to support 22 local service agencies. For information on the local Success by Six initiative or its ANGELS program, contact Regina Hall at 377-2786.
