“Muchas gracias por tomarse ese tiempo para enseñarnosnuevas ideas para trabajar con los niños y las familias.”

“Thank you for taking the time to teach us new ideas to work with kids and their families!”

This past May, Zeno began our second year working with Spanish-speaking family childcare sites in the Tri-Cities area through a partnership with Childcare Care Aware of Eastern Washington (CCA-EWA). What began as a small pilot with just 10 home-based childcare sites has now exploded into over 70 participating sites serving 475 kids!

Working as a team, Zeno staff members, childcare providers, and CCA coaches, engage in a continuous learning cycle that informs and improves Zeno’s program and its delivery each month. Each provider receives monthly games, game training videos, and professional learning sessions on things like “math and art” and “math and movements”. Survey results from providers revealed that 92% of respondents said that they would “certainly recommend this training to my colleagues,” and 88% of respondents “strongly agreed” when asked if, “as a result of training, I can think of way(s) to enhance my work with children and/or families.“ In fact, one provider wrote “I wouldn’t change anything because Gladys [Assistant Manager, Partnerships] knows a lot about the subject that was discussed. She is a great trainer, thank you for taking the time to teach us new ideas to work with kids and their families.”

Zeno Assistant Manager of Partnerships, Gladys Reyes, shared how delighted she is that over 60% of the childcare providers chose to continue this partnership for another year. While transitioning our model from in-person to virtual has not been easy, providers have shared how much they appreciate being able to participate in trainings “from their home” and to have games shipped “directly to their homes.” After completing a recent training, one provider shared, “I feel I understand how to utilize the materials with my kids in a fun way so that the kids get interested in the shapes, colors, and numbers.” Another provider shared “I had a chance to explore and play the [Shape of Life] game with my kids. It was a very beautiful game with fun materials and the kids really enjoyed learning about shapes.”

Learn more about how our Pasco initiative began here.