Third Annual Child Care Community Celebration Rocks the Boat in Buffalo
The Buffalo skyline stands stoically in the backdrop, foregrounded by the calm waters of Lake Erie. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
At 6pm on July 18, 2024, Western New York Child Care Action Team (WNYCCAT) hosted a community celebration for the child care industry’s rank and file. WYNCCAT is an activist organization whose mission is “to educate, investigate, plan, strategize, advocate and provide swift actions that lead to productive, long term, results and solutions that positively impact the child care community across all modalities.”
The third annual community celebration took place on the Moondance Cat charter boat, based at the Sun Life Marina at Buffalo Harbor (329 Erie Street). The two-hour cruise combined dinner, dance, and camaraderie, all in recognition of the important work of the various leaders in child care for Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and all townships of the Greater Niagara Region. Plus, the swag bags were silky (as the kids like to say these days).
Each person who attended the child care community celebration received a a WNYCCAT bag, notebook, and t-shirt. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
The program celebrated leaders in western New York’s child care community. WNYCCAT packed the Moondance Cat with 60-70 community members to recognize the advocacy work of men, women, and children who comprise the local child care industry, well known by pundits and elected officials as “the workforce behind the workforce.” Child care providers and workers make it possible for households with young children to earn a living, knowing that their young ones (0-5) as well as school aged children are cared for and educated while their parents, through gainful employment, keep roofs over their heads and food on their tables.
Mr. Peraza overlooks the party calmly as the Moondance cruises back into the marina. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
The community celebration aimed to appreciate the work of Western New York’s child care community, including providers, child care workers, advocates, activists, and parents. Present at the celebration were WNYCCAT steering committee members, the principal organizers of the event.
Meet some of the attendees
Among these event organizers was Vonetta T. Rhodes, a program manager for Consortium, Recruitment and Community Partnership in the State University of New York at Buffalo’s (UB) Teacher Residency Program. Rhodes worked tirelessly to recruit the more than 60 celebrants in attendance. She is a co-founder and Leadership Representative of the WNYCCAT as well as an early childhood educator with more than 30 years of experience in elementary education and child care services.
In a white headdress, Ms. Rhodes smiles beamingly alongside another leader in the child care community. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
Another giant in the child care community, Diana Abrams, helped distribute WNYCCAT “swag bags” including a notebook and t-shirt. In so doing, they met Abrams, who is the owner of Toot Toot Day Care, a group family day care on Buffalo’s East Side. Abrams is also one of the leaders of Buffalo’s Workforce Solutions Consortium (WSC), an advocacy organization of family day care providers. WSC seeks to effect “quality childcare, equitable wages, and dialogues with lawmakers, businesses, and the broader community.”
Sitting with a team of associates, Ms. Abrams (in the red blouse) enjoys her dinner. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
A testament to the broad support for Western New York’s child care community, the celebrants included leaders in related industries and issue areas. For example, among the allies of child care present was Mr. Terence Wayne, a retirement income specialist for Ballard & Associates, a health insurance carrier. Mr. Wayne served as the guest DJ for the community celebration, playing upbeat and soulful music from 1970s Soul to early 21st-century Dance and R&B. So pleasant was the playlist that several child care celebrants wasted no time cutting a rug on the boat.
Terence Wayne warms up in his jean jacket, watching attentively as celebrants begin a line dance to his music playlist. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
The venerable Sam Radford III also attended the child care community celebration. Mr. Radford served as a US Marine before returning to Buffalo as a math teacher. As an instructor at Buffalo’s Stepping Stone Academy, he nurtured a desire to advocate on behalf of parents and students in the Buffalo School System. Driven by the belief that “the biggest room in the house is always the room for improvement,” Radford’s advocacy efforts remained anchored locally in programs like the Better Schools, Better Neighborhoods antipoverty initiative at the Community Action Organization of Western New York.
He has also been recognized nationally, having participated in President Obama’s White House Community Leadership Council for Education. Currently, Radford is the President of the District Parent Coordinating Council of Buffalo and CEO of InPowerment Training and Consultations. He is also the host of We The Parents, a radio show which airs weekly on WUFO 96.5 FM in Buffalo.
Mr. Radford III sits in a light blue tracksuit sharing a peace sign with the world. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
Significantly, key members of the philanthropic community attended the child care celebration as well. Chief among them was Maria Whyte, Chief Community Impact Officer and Chief of Staff at the Community Foundation. Whyte is well known in the child care community as a “dynamo” whose steadfast advocacy was instrumental in the historic reforms led by the Live Well Erie Emergency Child Care Task Force. In 2021, while serving as Deputy Erie County Executive, Whyte led a team of researchers, advocates, providers, and parents to push NY Governor Kathy Hochul to increase the New York State subsidy given to parents so that providers who accepted children receiving the subsidy could meet the true cost of care for each child.
In true dynamo fashion, Whyte and Allie Urbanski, a senior program officer at Community Foundation, reminded celebrants that the work of the child care community was not done. In the 2024 legislative sessions, there were wins that removed barriers to child care assistance but shortcomings on other issues like workforce compensation. At the conclusion of the celebration, therefore, was a call to action.
Ms. Whyte (in the white blouse) smiles for a photo while surrounded by family members and Community Foundation teammates. (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
Broadening the movement
In a year marked by legislative successes, the tireless efforts of child care communities like that in Western New York have begun to make the child care industry one where parents can expect quality, affordable child care and where child care workers can begin to earn a living.
This flyer promotes the Child Care Action Retreat, soon to be hosted by the Community Foundation. Are there any child care advocacy events in your neck of the woods? Let us know! (Photo: Steve Peraza/Weave News)
On July 24, 2024, from 8:30 to 12:00, the Community Foundation is hosting the Child Care Action Retreat, which will convene providers, experts, and analysts to “align strategy among local child care providers and advocates.” This is part one of a series of meetings aimed to “broaden the child care movement,” linking local Western New York advocacy to the work being done on the state and federal levels.
So, for one night, the child care community celebrated, but there is no doubt that the struggle continues...
