Safety, Security Take Center Stage During GSA's 18th Annual Child Care Conference

WASHINGTON, July 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Designing and building state-of-the-art child care centers in safe and secure environments will be topics discussed at the U.S. General Services Administration's 18th annual Child Care Conference that opens today.

"Superior child care is one of the GSA's little known but great success stories," said GSA Administrator Lurita Doan. "Our centers care for more than 8,000 children a day and routinely out-perform facilities in the private sector. This conference is a celebration of our progress in providing exceptional care, and a unique opportunity to share best practices and hear from nationally recognized experts."

The 3-day event includes child care training led by industry experts and advocates on topics such as typical child development, recruiting and retaining staff, bullying behavior, safe child initiatives, and S.A.F.E. playgrounds. Additionally, key individuals whose work has improved the quality of GSA's child care centers will also be honored during an Accreditation Awards luncheon.

GSA created a national child care office in 1988 to assist federal agencies across the country with opening child care centers for their employees. GSA opened 25 centers during that time. Currently, more than 110 are operating in the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

"GSA's child care program supports a national commitment to providing quality child care as a key building amenity and an essential component of a quality work environment," said David Winstead, Commissioner of GSA's Public Buildings Service. "We work in partnership with federal agencies to select high-quality child care providers and strive to take advantage of the best available child care resources within each local community."

For more information about GSA's 18th annual Child Care Conference, visit http://www.gsa.gov/childcare.

Founded in 1949, GSA serves as a centralized procurement and property management agency for the federal government. GSA manages more than one-fourth of the government's total procurement dollars and influences the management of $500 billion in federal assets, including 8,600 government-owned or leased buildings and 205,000 vehicles. GSA helps preserve our past and define our future, as a steward of more than 425 historic properties, and as manager of http://usa.gov/, the official portal to federal government information and services. GSA's mission to provide superior workplaces, expert technology solutions, acquisition services, purchasing and eGov travel solutions and management policies, at best value, allows federal agencies to focus on their core missions.

Did You Know? Title 40 of the United States Code, section 590, gives federal agencies the authority to establish child care centers for federal families, and also allows for federal agencies to use appropriated dollars to improve the affordability of child care for lower-income federal employees.