e-newsletter 11: Feasibility Studies

Information Corner —

As times change and your needs change, we have upgraded our website to keep up with the times… and these changes come bearing gifts!

We have created an exciting and informative online destination where PCPC can assist you in all aspects of your childcare Centre…

• Extensive mapping, listings and links to our Member Centres throughout Ontario!
• Governance presentations are available for learning at your own pace and in the comfort of your home or office!
• Tipsheets are available for various topics — we are constantly adding to this growing resource section!
• Parent, Personnel and Student Handbooks are available for downloading and revising for your Centre’s needs!
• Multiple resources and forms are available for Performance Management and Evaluations!
• An extensive directory has been compiled for your use in locating potential funding organizations!
• External links to key childcare resource organizations!
• Critical information on our co-operative principles and values!
• A new collaboration with Mary Stuart, Early Childhood Development Specialist — through her new company, Childlife… Inspire Their Best!, PCPC members have access to expertise on early childhood development through many different approaches!

Visit www.pcpcontario.org to access all of these exciting and new resources — its never been this easy to find the information that you need!

We will continue to keep you updated on all of the new resources that we are working on through emails and our electronic newsletters!

Of course, our online solution is just one way that we connect with our Member Centres. We welcome the personal touch with telephone calls, on-site visits, tele-learning sessions and email!

We look forward to your feedback about our newly designed website and how it helps you to learn about our family of Centres and access to the information that you need in a timely manner!

We thank you for your support and look forward to helping you make a positive difference in your organization this year! (info@pcpcontario.org or (416) 410-2667)

Sample Employment Contract Available Online!

We know that most Centres have completed their employee contracts and have them signed and approved by this point, but, if your Centre is still working on them, this sample Employment Contract may be exactly what you are looking for!

Note for All Centres: This sample Employment Contract may be a document that you wish to download and/or print to go with your current Personnel Handbook!

Visit the PCPC website and follow the link (www.pcpcontario.org/sample-employment-contract) to view the sample Employment Contract. (Please note that this sample EmploymentCcontract is only available to current PCPC members)

Feasibility Study Now Available Online!

A feasibility study is often an important part of the establishment and/or development of a childcare program. The study can provide valuable information about the level of interest in a childcare program, about a family’s specific childcare needs and their ability to pay; it can also be used to identify people who want to be involved in helping plan the programs.

Reasons to complete a Feasibility Study…

Conducting a feasibility study is a good business practice. If you examine successful businesses, you will find that they did not go into a new business venture without first thoroughly examining all of the issues and assessing the probability of business success.

• Gives focus to the project and outlines alternatives
• Narrows business alternatives
• Surfaces new opportunities through the investigative process
• Identifies reasons not to proceed
• Enhances the probability of success by addressing and mitigating factors early on that could affect the project
• Provides quality information for decision making
• Helps to increase investment in the organization
• Provides documentation that the business venture was thoroughly investigated
• Helps in securing funding from lending institutions and other sources

The feasibility study is a critical step in the business assessment process. If conducted properly, it may be the best investment you have ever made!

Visit the PCPC website and follow the link (www.pcpcontario.org/sample-feasibility-study) to view the Feasibility Study. (Please note that the Feasibility Study is only available to current PCPC members)

Tele-Learning Sessions… Did You Know?

You are already doing more with less… that’s the way of life for non-profits!

It’s never been more critical, however, to make smart use of your people and financial resources. This recession makes it even more challenging to focus on training and supporting your team. Staff and the Board are in survival mode and likely stressed to the hilt. You’re pressured to cut the budget, without cutting into programs. That means putting the squeeze on internal line items.

At the same time, you need a team that’s productive today and when the economy turns around. You know from experience that training is fundamental to organizational success, but it’s still tempting to see it as a luxury during these turbulent times.

You’re thinking you’ll have to sacrifice training — but just for now — lucky for you, PCPC has taken all of this into consideration, and has developed a unique solution!

Introducing PCPC’s New Tele-Learning Sessions: Building and Sharing Your Knowledge!

• Training without affecting the bottom line — PCPC Tele-Learning Sessions are free to current PCPC members!
• Members do not have to leave their area to access learning resources!
• Questions that you would like answered and discussed in your training session can be sent to the presenter before hand for inclusion in the session!
• Chat in real time with the presenter and the other learners!
• Ask questions throughout the training session for immediate answers!
• Workshops are available for review before, during and after the training session!

When you make training a priority, you’ll rekindle the commitment of your team, give them the tools they need to succeed now, and emerge from the recession stronger and more nimble than ever!

Please watch your e-newsletter for upcoming dates and topics for the 2009 Tele-Learning Sessions!

Coming Soon: Board of Directors and Governance!

Environments Matter!

The spaces we inhabit can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Recent brain research as reported in Scientific American Mind (May 2009), demonstrates the impacts of environments:

• High ceilings can make people feel physically less constrained and encourage people to think more freely, more creatively! Low ceilings, on the other hand, create a sense of confinement and inspire a more detail-oriented work!
• What one sees outside through windows matters! Views of nature result in inhabitants having an easier time focusing, paying attention, than views of man-made structures!
• Nature also impacts students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)! Students with ADD show less severe symptoms after they have been in or observed green spaces!
• Fifth grade students in classrooms with unrestricted views of nature had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts, and math than children whose classrooms did not have such views!
• Natural light in classrooms really matters! Children in classrooms with the most natural light advance faster, by 20-25% in math and reading results than children in classrooms with the least natural light!
• Inhabitants of rooms with furniture that has rounded or curved edges have an easier time relaxing than in rooms where furniture has sharp angles!

To read this informative article, please visit http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=building-around-the-mind

What’s happening in… your Centre? your Community? your Province? your Country? your World?

• June 8th to 14th is National Sun Awareness Week! This summer protect your skin from harmful UV rays! In celebration of National Sun Awareness Week, the Canadian Cancer Society is working with the Canadian Dermatology Association to raise awareness of skin cancer and the importance of sun safety. For more information please visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, http://www.cancer.ca/ontario/about%20us/od-mark%20your%20calendar/national%20sun%20awareness%20week.aspx?sc_lang=en

Fundraising Ideas –

Remember that all of these fundraising ideas, and many more can be found in the Governance Series Workshops (Member’s Only Section) of the PCPC website www.pcpcontario.org

Environmental Fundraiser: This type of fundraiser could involve planting trees, selling flower bulbs, and even a sponsored cleanup somewhere in the community!

Get to know potential funders!

The Alva Foundation
Address: 199 Albertus Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M4R 1J6
Contact: Graham H. Hallward, Vice-President and Chairman-Donations Committee
Telephone: (416) 481-3014 (telephone)
Email/Website: donations@alva.ca and http://www.alva.ca
Funding Interest: Child Development
Granting Region: Canada-wide
Grant Information: Letter of inquiry, followed by a full proposal once the letter is reviewed; deadline April 1 and October 1 (annually)

The Atkinson Charitable Foundation
Address: 1 Yonge Street, 15th Floor, Suite 1508, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5
Contact: Charles E. Pascal, Secretary and Executive Director
Telephone/Fax: (416) 368-5152 (telephone); (416) 865-3619 (fax)
Email/Website: cpascal@atkinsonfoundation.ca and http://www.atkinsonfoundation.ca
Funding Interest: Early Childhood Education and Development; Children
Granting Region: Ontario
Grant Information: Application is available online

The Ben and Hilda Katz Charitable Foundation
Address: 25 George Street, #405, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 4L8
Contact: Mrs. Malcah Sufrin, President
Funding Interest: Early Childhood Education and Development; Autism; Child Development; Disabled Children
Granting Region: Toronto Area
Grant Information: No application form; this Foundation is interested in the financial structure of the charities it funds, and importantly how much of the donated money is actually spent on the charity; deadline is October 15 (annually)

Did you know? (fun facts and quotes)

Dr. Seuss pronounced his name ‘soyce’!

Going Green!

Stepping Towards Sustainability!

Childcare Centres can help children develop a positive and respectful relationship with the natural world, and environmentally-responsible habits for life! Centres can provide endless opportunities to model environmental responsibility, inspiring our fellow members and children to tread lightly on the Earth.

The environmental impacts of running a Childcare Centre are significant: the carbon dioxide emissions from transportation and energy use, the solid waste created, the natural resources consumed for the production of school materials and food, and the water used, to name a few — but by making a few deliberate efforts, we can keep little feet from making big footprints on the Earth!

One great way to kick your Centre’s sustainability efforts up a notch is to designate a Sustainability Co-ordinator within the Centre — this can be a permanent position for one of your families (ensure that this someone is always paying attention to sustainability)!

What might the Sustainability Co-ordinator be responsible for?

• The Sustainability Co-ordinator works with the teachers, the Board and the members to promote environmental sustainability — they work to reduce the Centre’s consumption of water, electricity, and new materials, and to minimize waste production and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the Centre’s operation. This involves encouraging those who make the purchases for the Centre to buy second-hand, locally sourced, biodegradable, and otherwise eco-healthy products.
• The Sustainability Co-ordinator is also available to support the teacher’s Environmental Education efforts with the children.
• The Sustainability Co-ordinator may also write a regular ‘green comer’ column in the Centre’s newsletter, or on the website, and involves parents in carrying out Centre sustainability projects to fulfill their community hours.

What can you do to ‘green’ your Centre?

In deciding which projects to kick start your Centre’s sustainability efforts, you’ll need to consider the need, the time and financial resources involved, obstacles likely to be encountered, and whether the project will get people involved in and excited about sustainability.

The following are some relatively quick and easy projects to consider:

• Decrease the use of new paper by setting up systems for electronic correspondence, buying ‘second-hand’ art paper and business papers; using only cloth towels, rags and napkins instead of paper
• Bringing a set of real cups and plates to all Centre meetings, picnics and events instead of using disposables
• Encourage parent helpers to bring healthy group snacks that are minimally packaged, minimally processed, organic and local when possible and affordable
• Ask families to pack ‘boomerang’ lunches (in reusable containers that will go back home instead of disposable packages)
• Consider the environmental impact of your Centre fundraisers, and eliminate or ‘green’ those with negative environmental impacts
• Donate battery-operated toys or use only rechargeable batteries
• Help the students plant a vegetable garden and make a compost bin, and spend time playing and learning in these
• Invest in, or make some picture books, games, and toys that help children explore and learn about the environment
• Plan an Earth Day celebration or bring children on a field trip to a larger Earth Day festival

PCPC challenges you to think critically about the environmental impacts of your Centre and to collectively set ambitious goals for ‘greening’. Can you cut your solid waste production in half? Can you eliminate the use of new paper products? Can you off-set your carbon emissions? Can you carve out time every day or every week to let the children explore nature? A Childcare Centre can be an excellent vehicle to inspire environmental responsibility — let’s make the most of this opportunity!

Buildings and Green Power — What Can You Do to Help?

• Use locally appropriate, locally fabricated materials when building or renovating, to avoid the carbon cost of transporting heaving supplies!
• Reduce your energy usage 20% by downsizing when choosing your next home or office
• Say no to carpeting
• Buy green power, or ask your utility to offer it!

PCPC member schools

List of centres »
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New and recommended

e-newsletter 25: Bill 168, preventing violence in the workplace · June 17
Free seminars on Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) · May 18
e-newsletter 24: Full Day Learning · May 18
Full-Day Learning Act passed: update and links · April 29
PCPC centre featured in Star article · February 8

Going Green!

All 'Going Green' articles on one page »

Going Green 23 · January 15
Going Green 22 · December 17
Going Green 21 · December 4
Going Green 20 · November 20
Going Green 19: A Brief Overview of “Green IT for Dummies” · October 27

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