Child care organizations nationwide have joined together to declare Friday, May12, to be Provider Appreciation Day to recognize family child care providers and early education teachers in preschools/centers and after school programs. It gives parents, grandparents and employers an opportunity to recognize and commend the dedication to children that child care providers demonstrate every day.

Regionally, the Northeast Colorado Child Care Resource and Referral (NCCCR&R) will be leading this effort. In April, placemats were distributed to restaurants throughout Northeast Colorado. The placemat highlights Week of the Young Child, Child Abuse Prevention Month and Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. Locally, there are many budget friendly ways a parent, grandparent or business can show a provider their appreciation. Send them a hand written thank you card, give them a gift certificate for a meal at a local restaurant or give them flowers to plant in their garden.

Today's child care and early education providers are unsung heroes. The child care profession is one of the most underpaid and underappreciated occupations, yet child care is one of the most critical infrastructures for working parents in Colorado.

Northeast Colorado Child Care Resource and Referral (NCCCRR) is a program of the Rural Communities Resource Center. NCCCRR covers Cheyenne, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma Counties and provides training and technical assistance services to the 100 licensed early childhood care and education programs in Northeast Colorado. Funding is received from the Colorado Department of Human Services and from the Lincoln and Yuma County Departments of Human Services.