PIECE - Saline, Ottawa, & Ellsworth Counties

🌻Childcare Providers 🌻

HAVE YOU REGISTERED? 🌱

Families are already registering and ready to meet YOU!

Showcase your child care program, connect with local families, and help them learn more about the care you provide in our community.

Licensed child care providers — reserve your FREE table today!

👇 Know a child care provider who should be there? TAG THEM below!

👀 And make sure you’re following us — we have more fun conference announcements coming over the next few weeks!

Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRU7zwpwz8tYP10_pSo9_fcV4WuDL9B3QAvp-t6ZhpurrsHA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=114394191632128687282

Get your school needs at a local, community event! Free haircuts, supplies, and more! 🥳❤️ We'll see you out there!

✏️📚 Ready or not... back-to-school season is almost here! 🎉

The backpacks are filling up, the supply lists are coming out, and we've got three great opportunities to help your family get school-year ready! 💙

🚌 Tuesday, July 21 – Salina South High School (11–6 PM)

🎒 Saturday, August 1 – Church of the Cross (Doors open 9:30 AM)

🍎 Saturday, August 8 – St. John's Missionary Baptist Church (11 AM–2 PM)

From free backpacks and school supplies to haircuts, health screenings, food, games, and more—there's something for everyone!

📌 Save this post so you don't miss a thing, and share it with someone getting ready for the new school year!

Check out the back-to-school fairs around town starting tomorrow! 🚌 Use your free, local resources- free supplies, haircuts, food, and more! We can't wait to see you. ❤️

🍎📚 A new school year brings new opportunities, and every child deserves to begin it with confidence. 🎒✨

Starting tomorrow, our community comes together to help local families prepare for the year ahead through FREE Back-to-School Fairs filled with backpacks 🎒, school supplies ✏️, health resources 🩺, haircuts ✂️, and more!

📍 Tuesday, July 21
Salina South High School
730 E. Magnolia Rd.
11AM-6PM

📍 Saturday, August 1
United Methodist Church of the Cross
1600 Rush St.
Starting at 9:30AM

📍 Saturday, August 8
St. John's Missionary Baptist Church
215 S. Chicago St.
11AM-2PM

💙 We're grateful for the schools, churches, volunteers, and community partners who make these events possible. Together, we're helping students walk through those school doors ready to learn, grow, and thrive.

📲 Take a look at the flyer below for event details, times, and available services. Be sure to share this post so every family who could benefit has a chance to attend!

Here's to a successful school year! 🌟📖

All child care professionals in Kansas! Make your voice count today!

Take the Child Care Market Rate Survey between now and Monday to make a difference! 🎉

2026 Child Care Market Rate Study - All in for Kansas Kids Make Your Voice Count for Child Care in Kansas Complete the 2026 Child Care Market Rate Survey. The survey opened on June 1st 2026 and you have until June 29th […]

🚨 Kansas Child Care Providers: Don’t Miss This Opportunity! 🚨

The deadline to enroll in Kansas’ state-funded brightwheel partnership is June 30—and time is running out!

If your licensed child care program hasn’t signed up yet, this is your chance to receive 2 YEARS of brightwheel Premium at NO COST through the state. After the deadline, this opportunity will no longer be available.

Here’s what you’ll receive:
✅ 2 years of brightwheel Premium at no cost
✅ 3 months of Professional Development designed specifically for early childhood educators
✅ 3 months of Assessment tools to help track children’s developmental progress and share milestones with families

With brightwheel, you can:
📱 Communicate with families in real time
💵 Manage billing and payments
📝 Simplify enrollment and paperwork
📸 Share photos, updates, and learning moments
⏰ Reduce administrative work so you can spend more time with children

This is an incredible opportunity to strengthen your program while saving on software costs. If you’ve been considering making the switch—or haven’t explored brightwheel yet—now is the time.

📅 Deadline: June 30
Don’t let this free state-funded opportunity pass you by!



Sign up today:
https://info.mybrightwheel.com/kansas

📣 Attention Family Child Care providers!

If you serve or plan to serve infants and toddlers, this one is for you.

Through the Safe Starts for Little Hearts program, you can apply to receive health and safety equipment for your program at no cost to you! Highchairs, Pack and Plays, potty seats, step stools, and more, delivered straight to your door by an Infant-Toddler Specialist.

⏰ The application deadline is June 21, 2026, and supplies are limited, so don't wait!

Apply here: https://kstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3vZ3Gr5EI3IWi34

📢 Kansas Child Care Providers — Your Voice Matters!

The 2026 Kansas Child Care Market Rate Study is underway, and provider participation is critical to ensuring an accurate picture of the true cost of delivering quality child care across our state.

The information gathered through this survey helps inform future child care investments, policies, and funding decisions that directly impact providers, families, and communities.

If you are a licensed child care provider, please take a few minutes to complete the survey and help shape the future of child care in Kansas:

👉 https://allinforkansaskids.org/2026-child-care-market-rate-study/

At Salina Area United Way, we know that strong child care is essential for working families, local businesses, and our community's future. The more providers who participate, the stronger the data—and the stronger the case for meaningful support.

Please share this post with fellow providers and help us spread the word! 💙

2026 Child Care Market Rate Study - All in for Kansas Kids Make Your Voice Count for Child Care in Kansas Complete the 2026 Child Care Market Rate Survey. The survey opened on June 1st 2026 and you have until June 29th […]

Home visiting programs are not silos — they are connective tissue woven into the community systems that surround Kansas families. Home visitors connect parents to organizations and agencies across health, mental health, child welfare, nutrition, housing, job training, and early education, serving as trusted navigators who help families find and access the resources they need. This two-generational approach supports healthy child development and school readiness while simultaneously strengthening parent well-being and family stability — making it one of the most cost-effective early childhood investments available to communities.

In Kansas, that impact is measurable. In 2025 alone, home visiting programs helped facilitate more than 5,000 estimated community connections across all three major evidence-based models, reaching over 6,800 families connected to at least one resource. More than a quarter of those connections addressed basic needs — food, housing, and transportation — while others spanned behavioral health, family support, child development, economic stability, and health services. Research consistently shows that families in home visiting programs who are connected to community networks achieve significantly better outcomes across health, safety, and family stability than those receiving home visiting alone. When home visiting works, it works because it doesn't work alone.

Learn more about it here: https://homevisiting.kdhe.ks.gov/

🚨 KIDTONY’S IS HERE 🚨 *Share for friends*

July 13-17…. Monday, Wednesday & Friday at Tony’s Pizza Events Center!

⭐ THE BEST WEEK EVER. ⭐

KIDTONY’S is a brand new interactive experience where kids will create team flags, compete as a team all week, make new friends, explore, create, play, and experience things they’ll be talking about long after summer is over!!

HERES WHAT WE’RE DOING:
🚀 Kansas Cosmosphere Interactive’s
🧪 Dr. Goddard’s Scientific Lab Experiments
🤖 Robotic Dogs
🏆 Kid Olympics
⚡ STEM & Chaos
🎯 Kid Olympics
🌟 Glow Party Finale
🚔 Live Salina Police K9 Demonstration
🍕 Lunch Included Daily

📍 Kids Entering 1st-3rd Grade
8AM-Noon

📍 Kids Entering 4th-6th Grade
1PM-5PM

💲 $115 for the entire experience!!

⚠️ LIMITED to the FIRST 150 kids in each age group.

⏰ Registration opens Friday at 10AM.

Register at TonysPizzaEventsCenter.com or through the direct registration link on the Tony’s Pizza Events Center page.

“Our goal in this is simple. Every kid at the end of the week leaves saying, That was the best week ever.’” -Shane McClintock, Tonys Pizza Events Center- Events Manager

👇🏼FULL WEEK DETAILS IN COMMENTS👇🏼



PLAY. COMPETE. EXPLORE.

🍽 Summer Lunch Menu | June 1-5
Lunch is served weekdays from 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. at the McKenzie Center, located north of the library. Youth ages 0–18 are given priority and must be present to receive a meal.

Thank you to St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church for partnering with us to provide meals for local youth and families this summer.