TOPIC:

SUSAN TASHEXECUTIYE DIRECTOR OF

IIORIZONS CHILDREN'S CENTERNews Source

A Model For Intergenerational Care

CONTACT: Anne Buckley, Director of Public Relations, Bank Street College ofEducation, (212) 875-4609, or Susan Sclove Tash, M.S.Ed., M.S.W,Executive Director of Horizons Children's Center, (847) 459-1633

As adults struggle to care for aging parents and children alike, the appeal ofintergenerational daycare grows. Intergenerational daycare, a flourishing concept inhealthcare and early childhood circles, consists of children and elderly adults sharingspace, time and resources.

Many childcare programs are already creating partnerships with existing adultdaycare programs. Among the forerunners is Horizons Children's Center inWheeling, Illinois, founded in 1974 and serving 21 communities in the Chicago area.The success of its partnership with the adult daycare program at NorthwestCommunity Healthcare Center has reinforced studies that indicate health benefits forboth the elderly adults and the children who participate in intergenerational programs."The children respond favorably to the seniors, and the seniors are ecstatic becausethey are needed," says Susan Tash, Executive Director of Horizons.

In order to foster the growth of the partnership with Northwest, Tash plans to build a

new 24,000 square-foot residential facility for seniors, featuring windows at child-level in all rooms and courtyards for the seniors and children to share. Completion ofthis project is anticipated during the year 2000.

Horizons enjoys a reputation as a leading childcare facility. Out of the 3000 childcarefacilities in Illinois, Horizons is in the 3o/othathave exceeded state-mandatedminimums, and this ranking has earned them accreditation by the National Academyof Early Childhood Programs. "If I had to liken that to something that gives aconsumer sense of confidence, it is analogous to the Good Housekeeping Seal ofApproval. It says that this place is different, both in its attention to detail for theindicators of quality and also the seriousness with which it takes it enterprise ofchildcare," said Paula Jorde Bloom, a professor of Early Childhood Education atNational-Louis University.

Tash hopes that there will be more centers, providing quality intergenerational care,created throughout Illinois and that these centers will become pilots for facilitiesacross the United States.

SUSAN TASHEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF

HORIZONS CHILDREN'S CENTERNews Source

TOPIC: Corporate Childcare

CONTACT: Anne Buckley, Director of Public Relations, Bank Street College ofEducation, (212) 875-4609, or Susan Sclove Tash, M.S.Ed., M.S.W,Executive Director of Horizons Children's Center, (847) 459-1633

Horizons Children's Center, founded in 1974 and serving 21 communities in theChicago area, enjoys a reputation as a leading childcare facility. Out of the 3000 childcare facilities in Illinois, Horizons is in the 3o/o that have exceeded state mandatedminimums and this ranking has earned them accreditation by the National Academyof Early Childhood Programs.

"If I had to liken that to something that gives a consumer sense of confidence, it isanalogous to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. It is something that says thatthis place is different, both in its attention to detail for the indicators of quality and

also the seriousness with which it takes it enterprise of childcare," said Paula Jorde'Bloom, a professor of Early Childhood Education at National-Louis University.

Horizons continues to evolve in response to the needs of society. One way is throughexpanded corporate childcare options. According to the Wall Street Journal,employees are, on ayerage, absent nine days a year because of inadequate childcare.Horizons provides three quality options. Among them is emergency back-upchildcare. This program has been designed to provide a quality alternative for thoseparents who are unable to access their usual care and to meet the inflexible demandsof the employee's schedule, including holidays.

Horizons also offers discounted childcare through partnerships between employersand the facility. The corporation subsidizes a portion of Horizons' regular childcaretuition and allows employees to place their children at a discount. A third optionoffers on-site childcare that is developed within and around the corporation.Horizons evaluates need, assesses the current program, if any, and creates a cost-benefit analysis for review. Once a program is in place, Horizons ensures top qualitycare through dayto-day management.

Tash hopes that there will be more centers, focused on quality corporate childcare,created throughout Illinois and that these centers become pilots for facilities across

the United States.

TINA PIPPINASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES

News Source

TOPIC: Y2K: It's Just A Bug

CONTACT: Dolly Purvis, Director of Public Relations, Agnes Scott College, (404)471-6314

It is hard to imagine that two little digits in a computer chi could cause global chaos, buta report released on March 2 by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000Technology Problem does little to ease the fears of many Americans. It warns ofpotential problems with everything from health care to transportation systems. The factthat the Y2K bug coincides with the millennium exacerbates this problem, causing morethan a few people to worry that the end of the world might finally be upon us.

Nonsense, says Tina Pippin, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Agnes ScottColleges, in Atlanta, GA. Pippin has done extensive research on religion and culture.with a particular focus on apocalyptic literature. She argues that many people simplyneed something to worry about and the synergy between the millennium and the Y2Kbug offers them a convenient excuse to panic. As for the Y2K bug, Pippin says, "There'snothing apocalyptic about it. Some people are just catching 'apocalypse fever.' We wereable to function before computers, and we will be able to function in 2000."

The Y2K bug is, after all, a fixable problem. Any errant computer chips that crash onNew Year's Day will be fixed or replaced, and the problems they cause will be solved.What may be harder to fix is the rapidly spreading apocalyptic mindset. Y2K is a case inwhich the dog's bark may be much more serious than its bite.

Tina Pippin is the author of Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of Gender in the Apocalypseof John (1992), Apocalyptic Bodies: The Biblical End of the World in Text and Image(1999) and a co-author of The Postmodern Bible (1995).