Left to right: Elizabeth Ransom of Save the Children, Betty Wadsworth of MSU Extension Service, and Jeanne-Aimee deMarrais of Save the Children. (Laurie Todd) Click on photo for larger view.

Cassandra Broadus-Garcia (right) of Connecticut gives one of the art kits her church assembled to a Mississippi caregiver. Broadus-Garcia and Susan Ross, also of Connecticut, flew to Mississippi to help at the workshop, Ross bringing gifts of multicultural books. (Laurie Todd) Click on photo for larger view.

Members of Americorps’ Early Literacy Corps helped at the workshop. Left to right: Sherita Rush of Louisville, Miss., Kim McLeod of Crawford, Miss., and LaQuesha Goss of Louisville, Miss. Saturday was Americorps’ Make a Difference Day. (Laurie Todd) Click on photo for larger view.

Cate Heroman (right) of Creative Curriculum brought 300 copies of a new manual, Helping Children Rebound from Katrina and Rita: Teaching strategies for Preschool Teachers, for Mississippi providers. Behind Heroman, Pam Mottley of Jones County Junior College hands supplies to another workshop participant. (Laurie Todd) Click on photo for larger view. …

Linda Thomas of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shared information about the health risks of mold. (Laurie Todd) Click on photo for larger view.

Children’s Defense Fund, Save the Children, RIF, Kaplan, Gryphon House, Creative Curriculum Help Fund “Get Back Up and Going!” Workshop

OCT. 25, 2005 | Several national organizations and businesses contributed materials and aid for a workshop Oct. 22 in Hattiesburg, Miss., for 200 early care and education workers from programs hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Thanks to the national co-sponsors, all participants received sets of books and materials to replace some of the materials lost in the hurricane. The groups will sponsor a second workshop Oct. 29 in Meridian, Miss.

“Hurricane Katrina has proven that our nation has a strong and caring early care and education community that knows no boundaries,” Cathy Grace, Ed.D., professor and director of the Mississippi State University (MSU) Early Childhood Institute, said. “We have heard from hundreds of individuals across the country, from advocacy organizations in Washington to tiny child care programs in rural communities. We are deeply grateful for the help and support Mississippi’s early care and education providers have received.”

Children’s Defense Fund, Save the Children, Reading Is Fundamental, Kaplan Early Learning Company, Gryphon House and Creative Curriculum joined MSU and several organizations in the state to co-sponsor the workshop. The “Get Back Up and Going!” workshop included sessions on state licensure and certificate policies, removal of mold and mildew (a serious problem for many Katrina-hit facilities), and literacy activities—with gift sets of books and other materials for all participants to replace materials destroyed by the hurricane.

The MSU Extension Service, Early Childhood Institute, and School of Human Sciences collaborated with the Southern Early Childhood Association, the Mississippi Early Childhood Association and its Hattiesburg affiliate, the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church, the Americorps Early Literacy Corps, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and the Gulf Coast Resource and Referral Agency to co-sponsor the workshop.

Early childhood agencies are still struggling to fully calculate the losses to early care and education across the Katrina disaster area. In devastated Hancock County, Miss., only two of 11 damaged centers have been able to reopen.