In the March/April issue of Exchange we challenged readers to make change happen. We invited you to share your ideas on the little steps your program can take to start reversing the downturn — one family, one neighborhood at a time. And, we announced the Exchange Stimulus Package: We will be giving away $10,000 in gift certificates from Exchange and loyal advertising partners — Community Playthings, Kaplan Early Learning Company, and Teaching Strategies, Inc. to 10 programs sharing the most creative 'Make Change Happen' stories.

We received many great and inspiring entries that demonstrate the creativity of our field. Exchange and our advertising partners reviewed all of these submissions and narrowed the list down to the top 20. Then we invited ExchangeEveryDay subscribers to vote for the top 10 submissions. Each of these 10 programs will receive $1,000 in gift certificates from the four sponsors.

We have printed some of the ideas from these 10 programs below. In addition, on our web site you can view the top 20 submissions as well as 50 honorable mention entries that also received votes from the reviewers. We hope these ideas will inspire you to make change happen in your community!

Sound Child Care Solutions
Seattle, Washington
"Every person needs a place furnished with hope." — Maya Angelou. Founded in 2006, Sound Child Care Solutions is a young non-profit consortium of centers joining together to share the business and professional development functions of child care while preserving our own identities and unique cultures. We are better together as we gain economies of scale and direct savings to improve our classrooms and serve more low-income children. With the recession it's tempting to contract and put the brakes on our big dreams. But, ultimately, we know that holding back won't bring out the best in our teachers, or reassure families that we can all pull together and be creative, rather than fearful and depressed, in these difficult times. An opportunity to be creative and generous came when we responded to a center in our community that needed a temporarily classroom to allow repairs of the extensive damage from a burst pipe in their building.

Due to parent layoffs, the enrollment at one of our centers was down so we offered this center a room. It was tempting to charge rent for this space, but we knew they were financially struggling as much as we were. As it turned out, the six-week experience of having some new teachers and children in our building became a valuable experience for our staff; others see the gifts differently that we each have, and sometimes better than we can see them ourselves. The visiting teachers, too, got expanded perspectives from the diversity in our center, which they took back to their coworkers as they returned to their repaired classrooms. Our enrollment and finances continued to decline, but we wanted to keep spirits up and build on this experience of seeing new possibilities. We asked two local early childhood consultants to volunteer time to help us rethink our use of the again vacant space to be more nourishing for kids, staff, and families in these difficult times.

We used our staff and team meetings to spark ideas from teachers and our consultants, and then with a meager $300 budget (and several trips to the thrift store), began to transform our temporary spare room into a beautiful new environment to nourish our spirits. In three short days our consultants, staff, and other volunteers cleared out the room, painted walls, and carefully set up new areas to demonstrate the values and principles we want to be influencing our time together in our early childhood center. We are trying to avoid laying off teachers, so some teachers who are temporarily not needed to maintain ratios helped make this all a reality. During the 'room make over process' our consultants brought teachers in for dialogue about how they were thinking about the space; why certain lighting, colors, and arrangements were used; and the social-emotional, dispositional, and cognitive outcomes the room was being designed for. They especially focused on the role of de-cluttering and creating possibilities for focus and relaxed engagement. And, especially in these times, they considered the importance of focusing on relationships rather than possessions. Over a few days, as she listened and looked on, one teacher reflected on a shift in her thinking, "In our child development classes we were taught to have more of things so kids didn't fight over stuff. Now I'm understanding that maybe all this stuff is too stimulating and causing some of those fights." A child walking through the room exclaimed, "Hey, this place is beginning to look like an apartment." Our consultants ended their volunteer time with us by leaving photos and little signs around the room with simple reminders of the principles at work in its design. Within hours some of our teachers began reassessing how their rooms could be more nourishing and calm in these difficult times for families. The creativity and inspiration of the consultants and the teachers using our classroom temporarily, who saw our space in a different way than we do, inspired us further.

Early Childhood Center
Greensboro, North Carolina
We had a little brainstorming session at our staff meeting and the staff came up with several good ideas. This one is my favorite. We are a downtown urban center where events are offered on Friday nights once the weather warms up in the center city park downtown. They offer music
and a place for people to gather. Our teachers have agreed to volunteer to keep the children here in the center so parents, who can't afford a babysitter or money for a date, can have a night out. The concerts are free and the child care will be too.

The Sunshine House
Greenwood, South Carolina
The Sunshine House has implemented a program in selected markets that we are calling 'Families First.' This program is geared for our families who have experienced a lay-off or reduction in work force due to the economy. The program allows a family to continue their regular enrollment at 50% of their weekly tuition for a set period of time. This allows the family to adjust to their situation and gives the parent(s) time to work on their job search. It's beneficial to the children, too, since they have the continuity of care and can continue attending school with their friends. It also keeps the families in touch with the parents of children in their child's class. The support that it offers the families has proven to be greatly appreciated, and we have had families who are participating in this program tell us what a difference Families First has made in their lives.

We have also called parents who withdrew their children due to a lay-off prior to the implementation of this program to extend the benefit to them as a former member of The Sunshine House family. We have systems in place to verify that families have experienced a lay-off and we also have policies related to the program that we make the parents aware of before approving their discount.

Jewish Community Alliance
Jacksonville, Florida
At the JCA, we took steps to prepare for this economically challenging time last year. I don't know how much we are stimulating the economy, but we are certainly saving money at school and in homes. Here are some of the ways we are saving money at school and in homes and being planet savers:

>> Next Page