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Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

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Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

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There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

Coastal MS child care centers get help preparing for hurricane season

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Wednesday, May 29, 2024   

The nonprofit Save the Children is working with child care centers along the Mississippi coast, with plans and tools to help them reopen or resume services during hurricane season.

The Magnolia State ranks eighth in the nation for hurricanes making landfall, with a record 19 storms.

Militza Mezquita, senior adviser for education in emergencies for Save the Children, said its Gulf Coast Resilience Network includes child care resources and early education partners working year-round to prepare providers for disasters, so they can help get families back to their everyday lives sooner.

"We bridge them into psychosocial and social-emotional support," Mezquita explained. "We make sure that the caregivers and parents understand how to talk to children after disasters; what are some of those coping skills that children may need assistance with."

She added the network includes child care centers in five Gulf Coast states, working together on a six-week plan to help them keep kids learning even if their building is damaged or they lose their teaching supplies.

Leigh Anne Gant, vice president of early education for the Delta Health Alliance, emphasized the importance of staying connected with child care centers in the three counties where they serve kids in West Mississippi. She recalled a recent tornado in Rolling Fort, which destroyed child care and Head Start centers. She emphasized their partnership with Save the Children helped provide crucial resources for families.

"We were immediately able to work with Save the Children to jump into action, to provide them and their families a place to go, as well as letting them know resources," Gant recounted. "But also being able to supply them with water, but also other materials that they may need."

Gant added Save the Children's emergency kits and disaster plans enable the centers to care for children, reunite families during emergencies and share resources with partner centers.

Mezquita argued child care center recovery is crucial for family recovery, as a return to normalcy for children allows parents to resume work and rebuild stability.

"If those child care centers can't open, then kids are at home, parents are at home," Mezquita pointed out. "And it just causes a sense of frustration, and we can't get back to those normal routines. And so, that's where we sort of see those breakdowns, and it really, really impacts the family, you know - truly economically, emotionally."

Child care centers in disaster-prone areas of Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas are part of the Gulf Coast Resilience Network.

Disclosure: Save the Children contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Early Childhood Education, Education, and Poverty Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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