Portland, Ore. (November 21, 2018) – KinderCare Education (KCE), invited educators from around the country to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion while they gathered in Washington, D.C., last week for the annual National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). KCE’s inclusion pledge – a charge to create warm, welcoming classrooms for every child – encouraged educators to cultivate a meaningful movement as they returned home to their schools and classrooms.

“At KinderCare, we’ve been committed to providing rich educational, engaging, and inclusive environments for children of all abilities, backgrounds and experiences for almost 50 years,” said Dr. Elanna Yalow, KCE’s Chief Academic Officer. “We understand that every child is unique, and each learns differently. We provide our teachers with the tools and support they need to help all children learn.”

The KCE Inclusion Services team is a team of dedicated professionals who help teachers and staff create warm and welcoming center environments for every child and their family. Inclusion Services guides teachers and staff with:

• Strategies for responding to or preventing challenging behaviors,
• Creating inclusive environments that value every child and family,
• Identifying community resources to support children, families, and our educators,
• Supporting all children including those with special needs, and
• Tips for caring for children experiencing stressful life situations such as divorce, natural disasters, family separations, a new baby in the family, and so forth.

By the end of the conference, more than 175 educators signed KinderCare’s inclusion pledge to make inclusion a daily priority in their work and life.

About KinderCare Education^®

KinderCare Education is an experience-based provider of early education and child care with more than 30,000 teachers and staff serving 185,000 families every day, where they need us:

• In neighborhoods with our KinderCare® Learning Centers and Rainbow Child Care Centers that offer early childhood education and child care for children six weeks to 12 years old
• At work through KinderCare Education at Work™, family-focused benefits for employers including on-site and near-site early learning centers and back-up care for last-minute child care
• In local schools with our Champions® before and after-school programs.

KinderCare Education operates more than 1,500 early learning centers, more than 480 Champions sites, and is supported by a corporate team of nearly 500 headquarters employees based in Portland, Oregon. In 2018, KinderCare Education earned their second Gallup Great Workplace Award – one of only 39 companies worldwide to win an award – and acquired several regional early childhood education brands, including Rainbow Child Care Centers. To learn more, visit kc-education.com.  

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