NEW ORLEANS — December 8th, 2020 – Agenda for Children and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) are announcing an expanded partnership to provide free, on-site COVID-19 tests at child care centers for teachers and families. This builds upon our existing partnership that provides child care workers in Orleans Parish with free, prioritized COVID-19 testing on a weekly basis.
“CORE’s free prioritized testing has been an essential resource for child care workers to ensure that they know their status and have the information they need to keep themselves, their families and the children in their care safe” said Jen Roberts, President of Agenda for Children. “It is critical that these efforts continue as the winter months are upon us and cases are rising again. We are excited to be able to expand our reach and make this process even easier for child care workers by providing on-site testing at their place of employment.”
“Over the past few months, we’ve built a wonderful relationship with Agenda for Children through our work on our public testing sites. As we’ve gotten to better understand the needs of child care workers, we realized that testing at the child care centers could close a loop to make testing easier and more accessible” said Rachel Nelson, Area Manager for CORE. “Bringing testing directly to the centers allows these essential workers to focus on their work; providing quality care for the children in our communities. We are honored to have the opportunity to make their day even a little bit easier and safer.”
CORE will deploy their mobile testing team to child care providers in Orleans and Jefferson parishes who request on-site testing. CORE will offer self-administered oral swab tests, which are free of charge for everyone. No identification or insurance will be required. CORE will continue offering free testing to the larger New Orleans community as well.
Agenda for Children will continue to work closely with CORE over the coming months to further develop the partnership as they learn how to best serve child care workers in the midst of COVID-19.
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About CORE
CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) is a nonprofit organization co-founded by Sean Penn and Ann Lee that is dedicated to saving lives and strengthening marginalized communities affected by or vulnerable to crisis. Within hours of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Sean Penn mobilized a powerful network to take immediate action. More than 10 years later, the organization continues to lead sustainable programs focused on four pillars: emergency relief, disaster preparedness, environmental resiliency and community building. The organization has expanded beyond Haiti to support communities in The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the United States. CORE has taken a leadership position in the COVID-19 response to provide free testing for high-risk individuals and vulnerable communities. The organization, which began offering free testing and wrap-around services in New Orleans in May 2020, has administered over 1.4 million tests across dozens of test sites across the nation, with a focus on low-income groups, communities of color, first responders, and essential workers. For more, please visit: www.coreresponse.org/covid19.
About Agenda for Children
Agenda for Children is a 36-year-old child advocacy organization based in Louisiana with offices in New Orleans, Mandeville and Houma. It is the Louisiana Department of Education’s Child Care Resource and Referral Agency for twelve parishes in Southeast Louisiana. Child Care Resource and Referral services help families find child care that meets their specific needs, and provide free professional development to thousands of early childhood educators every year. Agenda for Children has been working closely with state agencies, employers and child care centers to make it easier for families to find childcare during the COVID-19 crisis. Learn more at www.agendaforchildren.org.