The hope that 2021 brings

a monthly message from Deb Green, Executive Director

On January 1, I joined the rest of the world in bidding 2020 good-bye and welcoming in the New Year! The past year has taken a toll on many of us physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. While challenges will continue in the coming months, I prefer (or perhaps need) to focus on the hope that 2021 brings. 

Working with young children is in itself an act of hope. Educators are optimists. We believe that our contributions to the lives of children can help make the world a better place. I believe this more than ever as we enter the new year!

Congress has passed a new round of CARES funding. While we await the details of its impact on early childhood programs, and specifically PIC, I hope there will be funding to help recover some of the revenue loss that accompanied decreased enrollment and increased expenses.

This pandemic has created a lens on the childcare field like never before, with a focus on the importance of child care as a significant economic driver. I am hopeful for positive outcomes and that may translate into more funding appropriated to the field. 

While racial and social injustice in our country must be addressed on a larger scale, I am hopeful that we can continue conversations, reflect on our own work, and put actions in place that will move PIC towards the ideals of equity and inclusion that we aspire. 

There is a vaccine on the horizon. While we await details of its availability, the hope that accompanies the vaccine is profound. I long for days when parents will bring children into classrooms, of interactions that aren’t measured by distance apart, and of real relief from this pandemic and the disruption and isolation it has brought.

American poet Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tunes without the words, and never stops at all.”  I would agree.