Core Value Award Winner February 2022: Relationships – Julian Coppola-Zahavi

The Board of Child Care would like to recognize Julian Coppola-Zahavi as the February 2022 Core Value Award winner for Relationships!

The Board of Child Care would like to recognize Julian Coppola-Zahavi as the February 2022 Core Value Award winner for Relationships!

Ms. Julian's nomination reads:

"Jules is our Regional Navigator for human trafficking survivors in Anne Arundel County. One of the aspects of Jules' job is forming community partnerships to increase awareness and identification of human trafficking. Jules partnered with Anne Arundel County Public Schools to deliver a pilot virtual training on human trafficking to high school seniors last year, and the program was such a success that Jules has been invited back on numerous occasions this school year to present in high school health classes across the county. We appreciate Jules' work to sustain relationships with this important community partner, not only because relationships are a Core Value but also because of the positive impact this work is having on students. Thank you, Jules!"

Congratulations, Ms. Julian, and thank you!

 

Foster Relationships within our Community

Openness and honesty with all stakeholders make for both the best program outcomes and team culture. Inclusive practices are the building blocks for trust. We create space for conversations that grow transparency about our decisions, promises, and understanding of one another.

 

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Core Value Award Winner February 2022: Safety – Selina Aviles

The Board of Child Care would like to recognize Selina Aviles as the February 2022 Core Value Award winner for Safety!

The Board of Child Care would like to recognize Selina Aviles as the February 2022 Core Value Award winner for Safety!

Ms. Selina's nomination reads:

"Ms. Selina is a Unit Supervisor for the girls' unit in the Caminos Program in West Virginia. Ms. Selina exemplifies safety on a daily basis. We recently have had several vacancies for Campus Supervisor and Ms. Selina is always quick to fill the vacancy without hesitation while ensuring her tasks are complete for her position as well, ensuring safety for the entire campus, and for all three programs. BCC is safer and better with Selina. We thank you Ms. Selina, te agradezco mucho."

Congratulations, Ms. Selina, and thank you!

 

Safety as A Mindset

We value life, spirit, and health above all else and take action to maintain the safety of our workplaces, programs, and services through a trauma responsive lens. We are personally accountable for our own safety and collectively responsible for the mental, emotional, and physical safety of our community.

 

 

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40 Days of Positivity 2022 Calendar

As we find ourselves waiting for Spring to arrive, much like a Pennsylvanian groundhog ducking back into his borough, it is easy to only focus on the dark parts of the story that surround us.

While looking forward to warmer days, shorter nights, and the celebration of Easter, Passover, and Ostara, we encourage everyone to seek out positivity in our thoughts and actions.

Here at BCC, we use the model of the western Christian observance of Lent, a period of self-reflection in the 40 days leading up to the celebration of Easter. As a diverse and interfaith organization, we encourage our community to seek out the good and the positive in a time where darkness can be so prevalent.

To help in this endeavor, we have developed a 40 day calendar with prompts for thoughts and actions modeled around the core values of BCC. We encourage everyone to participate in this as a joint effort for team members, residents, and our surrounding communities.

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Enhancing Engagement and Intercultural Development

The BCC Compass – February 2022

 

Understanding change – how it happens and why it’s needed – can be hard.

As humans, we naturally crave what’s familiar to us. While we can stretch ourselves, leaving our comfort zones is, well, uncomfortable.

That’s why true, long-lasting change takes time.

One of our goals in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan 2022–2025 is to enhance engagement and intercultural development.

We have laid the foundation for this goal over the past few years, hosting events like our Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations and conducting trainings around bias and LGBTQ issues.

These events and trainings have built upon each other and created uplifting and enlightening experiences for our community. But to achieve deeper intercultural engagement, we need to do more.

Over the next three years, we have committed to sponsoring quarterly, “all staff” professional development events, educational workshops and activities that will raise awareness of inclusion, diversity, equity, biases and microaggressions. One example of this is the anti-black racism workshop we hosted in 2021. More than 200 staff members participated in this workshop, and we look forward to seeing continued interest as we plan our events for 2022.

We will also add more training opportunities for leaders by partnering with EDI experts outside of BCC. These training sessions will benefit the entire organization, as leaders will share the knowledge gained with their teams. The sessions will also be recorded and loaded into our learning management system for all staff members to access.

As we collaborate with more partners, we will continue to curate our library of learning with course content and resources that highlight diverse perspectives, practices and methodologies by various cultures.

This work will take time, but it will be time well spent. Remember: long-lasting change doesn’t happen overnight. The change that sticks is the change that is persistent.

What ideas or topics would you like to see addressed during our professional development events or training? I welcome your feedback!

Warmly,
Laurie Anne “LA” Spagnola
President & CEO

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COVID-19: We need your help!

“The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.”

– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

In these challenging times, the Board of Child Care (BCC) is still providing essential behavioral health services to our incredible youth. We didn’t stop during the pandemic, we kept on going. Actually, we worked harder, helping young people and their families no matter what! Now, more than ever, our youth need us, and we need you.

You can make a difference today. Please consider signing up to be a monthly donor or make a one-time donation. Your contribution helps to cover the added expenses we incurred due to the Covid-19 crisis. These additional costs include technology, staffing, personal protective equipment (PPE), and cleaning materials.

 

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BCC rocks the polls

Despite the unprecedented times that we currently live in due to COVID-19, four years swiftly passed since our last election! Americans across the U.S. are making sure they exercise their suffrage rights, and so are our youth here at BCC!

The “Rock the Polls” initiative educated our eligible youth on their state and national candidates and provided bipartisan answers to questions youth arose.

In total, 22 eligible youth residing across Baltimore’s Main Campus, Colesville, Hagerstown, Nicodemus, Denton, West Virginia, and TFC are now registered to vote and ready to rock the polls! This is a milestone for our youth as it is their first time utilizing their voice to positively impact our community! It is the beginning of our youth’s journey into social action; however, it doesn’t stop here! We want to encourage our youth to take an active voice in social issues and future state and national elections to come.

We are the role models for the kids that we serve. Make sure YOU get out there and rock the polls!

 

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