Page 30 - Creating a Community of Resiliency

Preparedness and Response Readiness: Los Angeles County R&R Agencies
A focus group was conducted in 2012 to examine current preparedness and response readiness at the R&R agencies and a range of early care and education provider types and settings in Los Angeles County. A group of nine professionals from the R&R agencies participated in the focus group during their regularly scheduled monthly Los Angeles Resource and Referral Group Experience (LARRGE) meeting. The participants comprised managerial staff from each of the R&R agencies. Staff from one of the AP agencies (Drew Child Development Corp.) attends the monthly meetings, but was not present for this particular focus group. Appendix A provides the questions for the R&R focus group. Results of the focus group are presented below.
Current Methods
Currently, R&R agencies provide information to all providers (licensed family child care providers, license‐exempt, center‐based staff) through the following vehicles:
 Trainings provided by R&R staff
 Trainings provided by Red Cross staff
 Train-the-trainer workshops that prepare staff to teach others
 Workshops, such as disaster preparedness as part of the California Department of Education funded Child Care Initiative Project (CCIP)
 CPR workshops
 Health and safety workshops
 Videos in the lobby
 Videos that providers can check out from the R&R library
When resources are available, R&R agencies provide additional materials:
 Emergency preparedness supplies and information on how to prepare an emergency preparedness kit
 First aid kits
 Fire extinguishers
“We get all sorts of providers. When we had more funding we can do more. English more center staff, Spanish more [family child care] and exempt. We do get a response from everyone and have found that center staff wants to know what they need to know because it’s not happening at the centers. It’s different with the FCC providers.”
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