When the City of Seattle launched our Emergency Child Care program at the end of March, our goal was to meet the urgent need felt by essential workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response for reliable child care in the wake of school closures. In response to this demand, the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) mobilized Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) providers across the city, and the Emergency Child Care (ECC) program launched with 28 classrooms and more than 230 slots for preschool and school-age children.

One critical need remained—care for infants and toddlers. SPP providers, who had already adapted their preschool classrooms and programs to serve school-age children, were simply not set up to serve the very different needs of babies and toddlers. For many families with children aged 0-3, their normal care options—whether grandparents now at heightened risk or a provider whose doors had closed—were no longer available, and these essential workers were left wondering how to continue working without reliable care for their youngest children.

Enter Child Care Resources.

As operator of the statewide Child Care Aware Family Resource Center and a longtime partner for many of the City of Seattle’s early learning initiatives, Child Care Resources was aptly positioned to help fill the need for Seattle families needing infant and toddler care in the aftermath of COVID-19. In the early days of the ECC program, CCR partnered with both DEEL and King County to develop a model for expanding emergency child care for Seattle infants and toddlers as well as for the families of essential workers across the county. Using their extensive network, CCR began matching families to providers who could meet their specific needs, be it infant and toddler care, siblings of varied age groups, after-hours care, or other nontraditional needs.

“It is widely recognized that without child care, our essential workers—and all our workforce—cannot do the roles assigned to them, and we desperately need our essential workers right now,” said Phoebe Anderson, CEO of Child Care Resources. “The Emergency Child Care program through the City, County and CCR partnership is enabling these essential workers to show up each day, support our communities, and have security of mind knowing their children are well cared for.”

As CCR, the City, and King County worked through the details of launching and funding the ECC model, another hero organization entered the story. All in Seattle, a local crowdfunding phenomenon, stepped up with an offer to fund more than 50 child care slots, a total donation of $250,000.

All In Seattle was started by a group of individuals in Seattle who wanted to quickly deploy resources to those in need when the pandemic hit and businesses began shutting down. In the early days of the crisis, a total of $27 million was raised in just 72 hours and All In Seattle’s leaders began distributing funds to nonprofits serving a variety of causes, including food security, housing assistance, and workers, families, and children in need.

Emergency Child Care wasn’t the City’s only effort for which All in Seattle stepped up with a generous donation. The City’s grocery voucher program received a $450,000 boost from the group, helping to expand the program to more than 8,000 households facing food insecurity due to job loss or decreased wages due to COVID-19.

“All In Seattle was created to inspire our community to action as the impact of the crisis was just starting to be understood,” said Jill Singh, one of the group’s founding members. “As the stay at home orders set in for businesses and schools, it became clear that child care would be a huge problem both for essential workers and for any hope of re-opening.”

In the eight weeks since the Emergency Child Care program launched, additional classrooms were opened, and as of this week, 385 children have been placed in high-quality, reliable care with Seattle Preschool Program providers or in CCR’s provider network across the county. This has enabled parents who work as first responders, healthcare providers, grocery and pharmacy workers, and other essential personnel across the region to continue serving our communities.

“The effort to quickly launch an Emergency Child Care program that would serve the needs of our city’s frontline workers required a lot of hard work by a lot of people who shared a common cause: ensuring that children receive high-quality care and families have one less thing to worry about in the middle of this crisis,” said Department of Education and Early Learning Director Dwane Chappelle. “We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with Child Care Resources and the generous gift from All in Seattle that allowed us to extend the reach of this important program during the crisis.”

For more information on the Emergency Child Care program, visit our ECC page or contact DEEL at ECC@seattle.gov. For infant/toddler care, after-hours care, care outside of Seattle, or other special needs requests, please contact Child Care Resources at 206-329-5544.

The FEPP Levy K-12 Opportunity & Access (O&A) Request for Investment (RFI) is now open for eligible community-based organizations, government agencies, and schools not receiving a School-Based Investment.

DEEL has approximately $1.28 million in annual FEPP Opportunity and Access Investment funding to be awarded through a competitive request for investment (RFI) process and managed by the City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL). Successful applicants will receive up to three years of funding conditional upon annual performance. Annual award size will be contingent upon services provided and students served.

To be considered for funding, eligible applicants are invited to submit a complete RFI application by Monday, June 22, 2020, at 3:00 p.m. DEEL will notify successful applicants by Friday, August 21, 2020, for investments beginning as early as October 2020 with the possibility of annual renewal through the 2022-23 school year.

Please visit our Opportunity & Access web page for information on submitting applications and to view the RFI Information Webinar.

Questions about the opportunity can be emailed to DEELFunding@seattle.gov and should include “Question_Opportunity and Access Investment-RFI Application” in the subject line.

All materials, announcements and questions submitted to DEEL will be posted on our website. DEEL will not provide individual notice of changes, and perspective applicants are responsible for regularly checking the web page for technical assistance information as well as any updates, clarifications, or amendments.

Yesterday, DEEL announced the re-opening of the FEPP Opportunity and Access (O&A) Request for Investment (RFI) funding opportunity.

The O&A RFI was temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 on March 24, 2020. In a message yesterday to community-based organizations, school administrators, and community members, DEEL shared the following:

This period of extraordinary uncertainty has made it necessary to modify and adapt our work while still striving to provide services that are important to our students, families and communities. Thank you for your patience and dedication to this work. Through careful consideration, the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) will lift the suspension and re-open the O&A RFI on Monday, May 11, 2020.

To be considered for funding, eligible applicants are invited to submit applications by 3:00 p.m. on Monday, June 22, 2020. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday, August 21, 2020, for investments beginning as early as October 2020 with the possibility of annual renewal through the 2022-23 school year, conditional upon annual performance. Annual award size will be contingent upon services provided and students served. 

The revised timeline for this funding opportunity is as follows:

*Dates and times are subject to change

Online information and technical assistance sessions will be available for viewing throughout the application period.

Starting Monday, May 11, eligible applicants can visit DEEL’s Funding Opportunities page to download updated materials, including the complete RFI Application, application submission template, and technical assistance resources.

Questions about the opportunity can be emailed to DEELFunding@seattle.gov and should include “Question_Opportunity and Access Investment-RFI Application” in the subject line.

All materials, announcements and questions submitted to DEEL will be posted on our website. DEEL will not provide individual notice of changes, and perspective applicants are responsible for regularly checking the web page for technical assistance information as well as any updates, clarifications, or amendments.

SEATTLE (April 24, 2020) – This week, the City announced it has expanded eligibility for its Emergency Child Care program, administered through the Department of Education and Early Learning. First launched to serve first responders and workers in healthcare, grocery, and pharmacy following school closures, the program is now open to essential City personnel and employees of organizations doing priority level one work as defined by the Mayor’s office of Essential Operations Management, families experiencing homelessness, and workers identified as essential under Governor Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order. 

To launch Emergency Child Care, the City has partnered with community-based Seattle Preschool Program and Seattle Pathway providers. Currently, there are 273 seats at 21 sites (with 33 individual classrooms) available for children of essential workers and families experiencing housing instability, with three more sites expected to open soon. A total of 151 children are currently enrolled in the program. 

All child care providers in the Emergency Child Care program are operating under new guidelines from Public Health—Seattle & King County for child care administrators operating during COVID-19. These health and safety guidelines emphasize smaller group sizes for social distancing, daily health screenings, and greater frequency of cleaning and sanitizing, among other health and safety measures.  

“I want to thank all our Seattle Preschool Program and Pathway providers who have adapted their classrooms, their programs, and even their own lives in the middle of this crisis to help provide quality care for the families who need it to continue their critical work,” said Dwane Chappelle, Director of the City’s Department of Education and Early Learning. “We’re proud to have each of you as partners as we respond to this unparalleled challenge.” 

Essential workers are invited to apply for the program on the Department of Education and Early Learning website, which lists additional program details and more information about eligibility groups. DEEL has partnered with various employers and partner networks representing essential sectors to identify families in need of care. Today, the City also distributed invitations to City departments for employees doing essential work under the City’s Continuity of Operations Plan.  

As part of the program’s expansion, the City is partnering with King County and Child Care Resources (CCR) to expand emergency child care services countywide. The City is referring families to CCR who need care for infants and toddlers, as the Seattle Preschool Program classrooms are only equipped for preschool and school-age children. CCR is also receiving the City’s referrals for families needing care outside of Seattle. 

“Child Care Resources and the City of Seattle have a long history of partnering in support of the children, families and child care providers of Seattle,” said Phoebe Anderson, CCR’s Interim Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operations Officer. “We are so excited to continue this collaboration in service of our essential personnel during this pandemic. A focus on infants and toddlers is a real response to the demand we are seeing in our call center.” 

If you work in an essential position identified on the Emergency Child Care website and did not receive an email into the program from your employer, you can apply for participation online. DEEL staff will respond to your request within 24-48 hours and match you with the licensed childcare provider closest to your area with open slots.  

For infant and toddler care or care outside city limits, please contact Child Care Resources at 206-329-5544. 

DEEL’s mission is to transform the lives of Seattle’s children, youth, and families through strategic investments in education.

On April 14, 2020, DEEL Director Dwane Chappelle informed the community partners we have worked with on the Culturally Responsive Mentoring Co-Design of the suspension of the process due to the COVID-19 pandemic:

Seattle is facing an unprecedented challenge with the COVID-19 pandemic and the City is taking aggressive measures to slow its spread in our region. We are working diligently to support our residents in partnership with Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) in this response. All residents are encouraged to regularly check PHSKC for the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Seattle.

In response to COVID-19, DEEL is temporarily suspending the Culturally Responsive Mentoring Co-Design Process under the FEPP Levy. As the extent and duration of COVID-19 outbreak remains unknown, the City is taking immediate measures to help mitigate the impact of this crisis. The top priorities for the City at this time are to keep our workforce and members of the public safe and healthy, to maintain essential public services, and to address the needs of the City’s most vulnerable populations.

Participating schools and mentoring organizations in the FEPP Levy Mentoring Co-Design are encouraged to check DEEL’s website in the coming weeks for the most up-to-date information on this funding opportunity. New information will be released as the situation continues to develop.

On April 13, 2020, DEEL Director Dwane Chappelle informed Seattle Schools about the suspension of a Culturally Responsive Programming Request for Investments:

Seattle is facing an unprecedented challenge with the COVID-19 pandemic and the City is taking aggressive measures to slow its spread in our region. We are working diligently to support our residents in partnership with Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) in this response. All residents are encouraged to regularly check PHSKC for the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Seattle.

In response to COVID-19, DEEL is temporarily suspending the Culturally Responsive Programming (Kingmakers) Request for Investment (RFI) process under the FEPP Levy. As the extent and duration of COVID-19 outbreak remains unknown, the City is taking immediate measures to help mitigate the impact of this crisis. The top priorities for the City at this time are to keep our workforce and members of the public safe and healthy, to maintain essential public services, and to address the needs of the City’s most vulnerable populations.

High schools interested in applying for the FEPP Levy Kingmakers RFI are encouraged to regularly check DEEL’s website for the most up-to-date information on this funding opportunity. New information will be released as the situation continues to develop.

DEEL’s Early Learning Team provides parents and providers some ideas and activities to support young learners in understanding and practicing the concept of social distancing.

General Recommendations

• Remove shared sensory table. Provide individual sensory tubs/trays as an alternative. Use sensory materials that can be easily sanitized or replaced daily (soapy water, shaving cream with foam blocks, torn/shredded paper, leaves & pinecones, etc.). If possible, provide a labeled bin for each child so that bins are never shared.
  
• Discourage sharing materials. Provide children individual sets of materials during free choice and small group time.
  
• Designate and define appropriate play space. For example, use tape to divide the block area into play spaces that accommodate social distancing recommendations.

Activities to promote social distancing and build community

• Have children brainstorm methods of greeting without touching. Use these ideas to start each day. Greetings from home cultures are especially welcome! Examples:
  • Say hello in different languages
  • Bow
  • Nod / up nod
  • “Peace” sign

• Red light, green light modification.Designate a “lane” for each child – e.g. chalk on the concrete (outdoors) or tape on the floor (indoors); make sure lanes are at least 6 feet apart. Also, mark off a line at least 6 feet away from the “light” person to indicate where players should stop. This modification can be used for other traveling games such as “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?” or “Mother, may I?”
  
• Dance party modification. Instead of congregating in one area to dance, have each child dance in a different area. The teacher can shine a flashlight to “spotlight” different children throughout the dance party and draw attention to one another and promote a sense of community despite physical distance.
• Mirror, mirror. Have children pair up and stand six feet apart, mark six feet with tape or chalk line. Each child takes a turn being the leader and making movements that the other child will try to copy, like a mirror image.

• Row your boat modification. Have each child in a pair sit apart but facing one another, each holding one end of a jump rope. Do the activity as usual; sanitize jump rope handles afterward.
• Co-create classroom norms with the children. Support children in thinking about norms that will encourage social distancing and keep everyone safe.

Activities that teach the concept of social distancing

• Social story about social distancing: https://sandybabaece.wixsite.com/covid19referencelist

• Dominoes demo (See example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae7nLMdDbbc)

Place a line of dominoes / small blocks close together. Take one domino and have it “sneeze”, knocking into the line of dominoes – this shows how germs can spread easily from person to person in close proximity. Repeat the activity with another line of dominoes, with a few close together, but the rest spaced apart – this shows how social distancing can limit the spread of disease.

• Magnet activity

Demonstration: Put a dab of paint (“germs”) on one end of a magnet. Move it toward the oppositely charged end of another magnet with the painted end, so it sticks. Show how the paint transferred to the new magnet. Repeat the demonstration using ends of magnets with the same charge, so they repel each other. Show that the paint (“germs”) do not transfer.

Activity: Group children into pairs; have them stand facing each other about 6 feet apart. Challenge each pair to pretend they’re magnets with the same charge (as in the second demonstration). Have one child be the “leader”; as they step forward, the other child will step back to maintain the original distance. The leader can vary the direction and speed of the steps, but the goal is to have the pair work together to remain 3-6 feet apart. Repeat with the other child being the “leader”.

• How much is six feet?

Provide each child with a piece of string or line of tape that is six feet long. Each child will measure out the six-foot distance using different materials (foam blocks, links, cardboard blocks, or even arms, legs, etc.).
Children can report back how many items they used to make six feet. That reference can be used when reminding children of social distancing, “Remember to stand 14 cardboard blocks away from your neighbor.”