More than 160 premiere events will showcase Best Beginnings' Babies on Track, a 14-minute DVD for parents highlighting early learning and healthy brain development. The DVD and accompanying baby board books provide at-home and convenient ways to interact with your children. 7,500 sets of the DVD and board books will be distributed free throughout Alaska to families with children under 2 years of age.

“A colleague once said to me, ‘we don’t start building a pipeline at mile 5, we start at 0’,” says Stephanie Berglund, the CEO of thread, Alaska’s Child Care Resource & Referral Network. “The same can be said for our children; we should be investing more starting at birth and earlier in their care and education.”

thread staff will join early educators and early childhood professionals from around the state at the 31st Annual Early Childhood Conference this Thursday through Saturday, February 2-4 at the Hilton Anchorage. The conference is hosted each year by the Anchorage Association for the Education of Young Children (AAEYC).

In 2011, thread, Alaska's Child Care Resource and Referral Agency received $2400 in individual donations through the Pick.Click.Give program. thread has seen an increase in Pick.Click.Give donations each year in support of quality early care and education in Alaska. Pick.Click.Give. allows Alaskans to make charitable contributions to one or more of over 400 eligible nonprofit organizations when they file online for the annual dividend.

"Supporting Alaska's children isn't just a feel good message, it is one of the smartest investments we can make as a community," says Stephanie Berglund, thread's CEO."

ANCHORAGE, AK – The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies or NACCRRA released its We Can Do Better 2011 update earlier this year, ranking state child care centers nationwide. The report ranks states on ten program requirements and five oversight benchmarks. The State of Alaska’s score, according to the report, is a 72 out of a possible 150 (48 percent) – a failing grade in any classroom – and is ranked 43 out of the fifty states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Defense.

“Children are our most vulnerable citizens, yet states are cutting critical programs that are needed to ensure their healthy development and well-being,” said NACCRRA Executive Director Linda K. Smith. “As Congress debates spending cuts for FY 2012, and as the Budget Super Committee drafts deficit reduction recommendations for the next 10 years, it is essential that our nation’s children are protected and that key initiatives with a direct effect on the economy, such as child care assistance, are fully funded and not diminished.”

thread offers online classes, education funding and information promoting the early childhood workforce.

Taking time-out for yourself is just as important as taking care of the children in your life. Self-care tips were the topic at a recent Parent TALK at thread, where Kids These Days! joined participants to talk about how they find their own "me time."

It has been a year since thread launched a new online training opportunity and the Child Care Aware Training Academy continues to grow in popularity. The Child Care Aware Training Academy is an online, self-paced training for early educators.