The Jimmy Pratt Foundation
112 Military Rd A1C 2C9 St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, NL, Canada

REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/zZtuBoreoGpPKeit6 Join the Jimmy Pratt Foundation on Thursday, September 24th from 12-1pm for our first monthly virtual roundtable! This month, we welcome Dr. Emis Akbari for an accessible roundtable that examines this year’s unprecedented back-to-school from a social justice perspective. Dr. Akbari has previously written in The Conversation on how the COVID-19 pandemic will disproportionately disadvanta ge already-marginalized early learners.... Dr. Akbari will deliver a 30-minute talk, followed by an open discussion. This roundtable will be of interest to policy-makers, academics and anyone working or living with children. Dr. Akbari is a Professor at George Brown College in the School of Early Childhood. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE at the University of Toronto.

We heard Crystal's interview on CBC's morning show today and wanted to help Panda Bear Daycare keep their doors open for another few weeks. We reached out to Crystal and arranged to drop off some grocery gift cards to help them with their snack program. While we were there, I took advantage of the time to ask how they were making out and we had quite an interesting conversation. It appears that Gov't believes that there are outstanding documents required to complete Panda Bea...r's application for an operating grant, Crystal and another board member informed me this isn't the case. They have submitted everything required but with the high turnover of staff and inconsistent service, it's been a frustrating process for them to be able to get the money they need to operate without fear of closure. They also had an application in to the Dept of Education & ECD from this past school year to apply for funding that would make it possible for them to realize their dream of moving into the k-9 school just up the road. Government has informed them that due to covid, they will have to reapply all over again for the upcoming school year. One of the items they're being asked to fund is a fire supression system at the cost of $100,000. For a non-profit daycare on top of the other $900,000 price tag they have to complete the remaining changes. This is absolutely unacceptable. The Department of Education & ECD must stop working in their individual silos and allow for these childcare opportunities to happen in existing public educational institutions now. We need to help our non-profit childcare's centres, not make their jobs more difficult.