Rhode Island
Childcare workers another critical part of RI’s infrastructure | Opinion
Rep. Susan R. Donovan (D-District 69, Bristol, Portsmouth) is chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Sen. Sandra Cano (D-District 8, Pawtucket) is chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.
In a recent commentary, early education advocates Lisa Hildebrand and Khadija Lewis Khan drew a very appropriate comparison between Rhode Island’s child care resources and the Washington Bridge, noting that both are critical infrastructure whose challenges create serious obstacles to working Rhode Islanders.
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We couldn’t agree more, and are just as committed to strengthening early education programs in our state as we are to ensuring a safe and swift solution to the bridge fiasco. But unlike the problems that led to the failure of the bridge, the causes and solutions to our child care problems are quite clear.
Simply put, it’s funding. It’s virtually impossible to provide the high-quality child care that working families need at a price they can afford. The result is a tug-of-war that no one is winning – families cannot afford child care and early educators cannot afford to live on their income, which is generally lower than entry-level fast food wages.
That is why we are making the Rhode Island Early Educator Compensation Stabilization Act (H7251, S2038) one of our highest priorities this legislative session. Our bill would sustain and strengthen existing workforce development and compensation programs for educators working in licensed child care and early learning programs statewide, funding the continuation of workforce development and retention bonuses for our state’s dedicated, valuable, yet incredibly underpaid early educators.
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The bill would continue the Child Care WAGE$ salary supplement program, as well as a pandemic-era quarterly retention bonus of $750 for the lowest wage early educators who work directly with children and have been consistently employed in the same program.
These programs have helped retain early education staff since the pandemic. Our state will face a child care crisis if funding ends this year.
We have been working to bolster support from our legislative colleagues and our chambers’ leadership for this important measure to help ensure that the devoted staff members of child care and early learning programs can afford to keep the jobs they love. If they can’t afford to work, neither can the families who depend on them.
The Rhode Island Blood Center is asking for donations after the fatal shooting at Brown University on Saturday.
Several donor centers have extended hours available as they respond to the emergency.
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Anyone interested can sign up for an appointment on the organization’s website.
PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Blood Center’s blood supply was low before Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University, and it is immediately stepping up blood drives to meet the need, an official said Sunday.
“We were definitely dealing with some issues with inventory going into the incident,” Executive Director of Blood Operations Nicole Pineault said.
The supply was especially low for Type 0 positive and negative, which are often needed for mass casualty incidents, she said. Type 0 negative is considered the “universal” red blood donor, because it can be safely given to patients of any blood type.
Pineault attributed the low supply to weather, illness, and the lingering effects of the pandemic. With more people working from home, blood drives at office buildings are smaller, and young people — including college students — are not donating blood at the same rate as they did in the past, she said.
“There are a lot challenges,” she said.
But people can help by donating blood this week, Pineault said, suggesting they go to ribc.org or contact the Rhode Island Blood Center at (401) 453-8383 or (800) 283-8385.
The donor room at 405 Promenade St. in Providence is open seven days a week, Pineault said. Blood drives were already scheduled for this week at South Street Landing in Providence and at Brown Physicians, and the blood center is looking to add more blood drives in the Providence area this week, she said.
“It breaks my heart,” Pineault said of the shooting. “It’s a terrible tragedy. We run blood dives regularly on the Brown campus. Our heart goes out to all of the victims and the staff. We want to work with them to get the victims what they need.”
She said she cannot recall a similar mass shooting in Rhode Island.
“In moments of tragedy, it’s a reminder to the community how important the blood supply really is,” Pineault said. “It’s an easy way to give back, to help your neighbors, and be ready in unfortunate situations like this.”
The Rhode Island Blood Center has donor centers in Providence, Warwick, Middletown, Narragansett, and Woonsocket, and it has mobile blood drives, she noted.
On Sunday, the center’s website said “Donors urgently needed. Hours extended at some donor centers, 12/14.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
Authorities said two people were killed and eight more were injured in a mass shooting at Brown University, an Ivy League school in Rhode Island. Authorities said students were on campus for the second day of final exams.
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