NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bright Horizons® (NYSE: BFAM), a leading provider of high-quality education and care solutions designed to help employers support employees across life and career stages, partners with #FirstRespondersFirst. Conceived by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation, #FirstRespondersFirst is an initiative created to provide first responder healthcare workers, ranging from minimum-wage hourly workers in home-care settings to social workers, nurses, physicians, and beyond, with physical and psychological resources they so desperately need as they serve on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of its commitment to #FirstRespondersFirst, Bright Horizons is opening child care hubs, providing free high-quality, safe, and nurturing care for the children of first responders, enabling this workforce to have peace-of-mind to focus on their critical jobs. Bright Horizons will operate with special COVID-19 protocols in place, including limited capacity and small group sizes, enhanced teacher-to-child ratios, and intensive hygiene and cleaning practices to protect the health and safety of the children and staff. The centers will be staffed with expertly trained and experienced local Bright Horizons early educators, and available for children ages infants through six-years-old. The partnership launches today in Seattle, Detroit, and Washington, D.C., with additional hubs to open across the U.S. in the coming days.
“For over 30 years, Bright Horizons has been providing high-quality child care to support working families, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the role Bright Horizons needs to be focusing on right now. It is core to our mission to make a lasting impact on the communities where we live and work, and it is our first responders, and their children, who need us most right now,” said Bright Horizons CEO Stephen Kramer. “I am moved by the generosity of Thrive Global, Harvard Chan School, and CAA and that we have this chance to partner with them and put the talent, devotion, and commitment of the Bright Horizons family to work in service to our first responders at their time of urgent need.”
Details of the first three hubs are below:
Bright Horizons @ Pioneer Square (101 6th Avenue South, Seattle, WA)
Located on the corner of Yesler and 6th Avenue South, Bright Horizons@Pioneer Square is convenient to the city's historic first neighborhood and International District. It is a short half mile from the field hospital at CenturyLink Field and also a short distance from Harborview Medical Center, Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle Medical Center, Swedish Hospital, Kindred Hospital, and dozens more hospitals, healthcare centers, and senior living facilities. The child care center features a new, state-of-the-art preschool, Growing Readers nook to curl-up with a good book, SMART Board to introduce age-appropriate use of technology, and children can engage in physical activity in the indoor Movement Matters Zone and private, secure outdoor playground.
Bright Horizons@Midtown Detroit (1110 Seward, Detroit, MI)
Bright Horizons@Midtown Detroit is located minutes from Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit Receiving Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Veterans Hospital, and many more healthcare centers, and senior living facilities. The child care center provides all the essential tools needed to learn, grow, and thrive, even in this challenging time. The World at Their Fingertips curriculum fosters children’s interest in art, science, reading, and math. The center focuses on healthy habits, exercise, art, and other creative activities.
Bright Horizons@L Street (2101 L Street Northwest Suite 104, Washington, DC)
Bright Horizons@L Street is located just steps from George Washington University Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital and not far from Howard University Hospital, Virginia Hospital Center and dozens of other hospitals and healthcare services. The team at Bright Horizons@L Street is committed to providing not only a safe and healthy environment for children, but also an inspiring place to learn, grow, and thrive. In addition to the convenient location, the center features a private outdoor playground, designated Movement Matters Zone, a STEM lab, and spacious classrooms.
For all the uncertainty wrought by the Coronavirus, one thing is certain: across the country, every day and every night, our first responders are navigating the challenges of this moment with courage and compassion. As U.S. residents are asked to serve the public health by stepping back — staying home, sheltering in place, and otherwise minimizing their contact with the outside world — these healthcare workers are being tasked with stepping forward. As frontline healthcare workers step forward to address this epic public health challenge, their own health is threatened due to shortages in personal protective equipment. #FirstRespondersFirst has launched a fundraising call to action to help provide essential supplies and equipment for protecting frontline healthcare workers and their patients. #FirstRespondersFirst is a fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a Charity Navigator 4 Star Charity that meets all 20 BBB Charity Standards.
#FirstRespondersFirst launched on March 23 with a group of frontline healthcare workers and caregivers that will be constantly expanding in the days and weeks ahead. Key partners participating in virtual town halls and amplifying the importance of supporting the global healthcare workforce are: Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, Commonwealth Care Alliance, Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals, Elara Caring, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Health Law Advocates, Massachusetts AFL-CIO: (SEIU Local 509), Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, Massachusetts Health Council, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Massachusetts Medical Society, Massachusetts Senior Care Association, MGH Institute of Health Professions, National Association of Social Workers-MA, Partners In Health, and The Schwartz Center, among others.
#FirstRespondersFirst launched its first virtual Town Hall on March 31: Sustaining Yourself During The Coronavirus Crisis. The Town Hall will provide insight into how to better support yourself as a first responder. Attendees will learn how to make a powerful mindset shift — taking care of yourself is the most important thing you can do to care for others — and come away with actionable Microsteps to support and sustain themselves as they confront this crisis. The town hall will be hosted by Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global; Michelle A. Williams, Dean of the Faculty, Harvard Chan School; Joey Hubbard, Chief Training Officer, Thrive Global; and Shekhar Saxena, Professor of the Practice of Global Mental Health, Harvard Chan School. Sign up at https://thriveglobal.com/events/ to receive your Zoom invite. A recording will be posted following the live session.
Bright Horizons is a leading global provider of high-quality child care and early education, back-up care, and workplace employee services. For over 30 years, Bright Horizons has been a champion for working families, designing and providing innovative solutions to help families, employers, and their employees better address the challenges of balancing work and family life. Operating approximately 1,100 child care centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada and India, and serving more than 1,150 of the world’s leading organizations, Bright Horizons’ child care centers, back-up child and elder care, help employees succeed at every life and career stage, both at work and at home. For more information, go to www.brighthorizons.com.
About Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people’s lives—not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan School teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America’s oldest professional training program in public health.
About Thrive Global
Thrive Global is a leading behavior change tech company helping individuals, corporations and communities improve their well-being and performance through our behavior change platform, storytelling and corporate services. Thrive was founded by Arianna Huffington and launched in 2016 with the mission of changing the way we work and live by ending the collective delusion that burnout is the price we must pay for success. We offer companies and individuals sustainable, science-based solutions to enhance both mental and physical well-being and performance, purpose and relationship with technology. We are committed to accelerating this culture shift around the world. Thrive Global is headquartered in New York City and has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Athens, Mumbai, Melbourne and Bucharest. For more information, visit www.thriveglobal.com.
About CAA Foundation
The CAA Foundation was founded in 1995, born out of Creative Artists Agency’s (CAA) desire to give back to communities and harness the power and reach of the entertainment industry to create positive social change by forging strategic partnerships, encouraging volunteerism, granting financial contributions, stimulating public awareness, and providing in-kind donations. The CAA Foundation has become a leader in the entertainment community on education, the environment, and health and social issues. Leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) represents many of the most successful and innovative professionals working in film, television, music, video games, theatre, commercial endorsements, and digital content, and provides a range of strategic marketing and consulting services to corporate clients. CAA is also a leader in sports, representing more than 2,000 of the world’s top athletes in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, Olympics and action sports, in addition to coaches, on-air broadcasters, and sports personalities and works in the areas of broadcast rights, corporate marketing initiatives, licensing, and sports properties for sales and sponsorship opportunities. For more information, please visit www.caa.com.
