The Soho Center's REACH Initiative, started in 1995 and funded in large part by an $804,000 grant from  the W.K.  Kellogg  Foundation, is designed to improve the quality of family day care (home-based child care) and to test and distribute innovative, cost-effective outreach strategies and materials for national implementation.

Much of our current focus on children's literacy and school success comes from reseach done and strategies and materials developed during the REACH Initiative and the Soho Center's 28 years of developing high quality early childhood programs. 

Background on the REACH Initiative:
Working  cooperatively with various state and national organizations and agencies, the Soho Center's REACH Initiative is surfacing large numbers of family child care providers and encouraging them to become regulated and to participate in beneficial programs like the Child Care Food  Program. (This 20-year-old program, part of the National  School Lunch Act, gives providers nutrition education and cash reimbursements for children's healthy meals and snacks.)

The REACH Initiative empowers thousands of providers with networking and professional development opportunities, connects them with child care associations, and informs them of new and existing child care-related resources. In addition, the REACH Initiative seeks to work with policy-makers at the local, state, and national level to explore rational family child care policies that have implications for both children and regional economies.

The REACH Initiative uses several innovative strategies to find and engage family child care providers and parents who rely on family child care. These include four television commercials that feature Linda Ronstadt singing Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You."Providers and parents responding to the media campaign can call the Soho Center toll-free (1-800-A1-KIDS-1) to receive accurate information about regulations and the Food Program (including customized, county/city-specific referrals to appropriate social service agencies and child care-related organizations as well as a newsletter and other important benefits). Thousands of providers are then sent free  A1-KIDS-1 Newsletters and our new  Child/2000 National Child Care Resource Directory.

(The Soho Center is offering three of these highly-produced television spots to CACFP Sponsors across the nation to help publicize their USDA Food Programs.  Click  Here for more information about using these television commercials in your campaign!) 

The REACH Initiative recently completed a well-reviewed video for family child care providers -  The Business of Family Child Care - that has been widely distributed to providers and agencies who work with providers nation-wide.

The REACH Initiative has expanded into other states across the nation, assisting child care agencies with their outreach by offering them at-cost copies of our Child/2000 National Child Care Resource Directory, free use of our four A1-KIDS-1 television commercials to publicize the USDA Food Program to providers and parents, and various intake and data services to help their outreach efforts

The REACH Initiative continues to promote quality child care, including children's literacy and early childhood education, through a variety of innovative, cost-effective programs.  For more information on our literacy initiatives, please call the Director at 540-923-5012 or e-mail us at soho@child2000.org

Please Note:
We are interested in exploring the use and implementation of our materials, software, and overall outreach strategies in other regions and states across the nation. 

New Media Opportunities - We are also very in collaborating with other non-profits to develop and produce media projects that benefit families, children, child care providers, and organizations that work on their behalf. 

Thanks to two major grants, the Soho Center now has new high-end in-house video facilities that are available to create cost-effective television spots, long-form videos, and other media.  Click  here for more information on the Soho Center's new video capabilities. 

If your organization or state is interested in discussing how we might work together, please call Soho Center's Director, Jeanna Beker, at 540-923-5012 or e-mail us at soho@child2000.org