Brilliant Baby August Newsletter
Dear BB Community,
It's time for school! The Brilliant Baby Team is excited to wish everyone a fantastic start to this new school year. Whether your child is starting preschool, TK or kindergarten, this is a significant milestone for you and your new student! As always, Oakland Promise is here to support you and your family. If your child has started kindergarten in Oakland, they can receive a scholarship! Joining our K2C program is another opportunity for you to save money for your child's bright future. Through the Oakland Promise Kindergarten to College Program (K2C), every Oakland public school kindergartner has $100 set aside in their Oakland Promise Scholarship account.
Program Highlights
As of August 29, 2,456 babies in Oakland (including yours) have opened a Brilliant Baby College Savings Account! We are super excited to have reached this milestone and are happy you are all part of our growing Brilliant Baby family!
Oakland Promise Kindergarten to College program
When your Brilliant Baby starts Kindergarten, you can sign them up for their Oakland Promise scholarship. According to the Oakland Promise website, "The Oakland Promise Scholarship begins with a $100 college scholarship awarded to all Oakland public and charter school kindergarteners. Parents and caregivers must sign up for their accounts online at our Oakland Promise Scholarship Portal. Families can visit this portal to request the scholarship when their student graduates from any high school and enroll in post-secondary. Students will earn additional money in their scholarship account if they graduate from an Oakland public school." Your child will receive an additional $100 once they reach the grade levels you see in the chart above.
Please visit https://oaklandpromise.org/kindergarten-to-college/ to sign up for your child's scholarship today! If you need support activating your scholarship, please email k2c@oaklandpromise.org, and one of their team members will contact you.
Hello, Brilliant Baby Fam! We want to update you on our new Events Calendar! This includes our orientations for new families and workshops for everyone. Moving forward, once a month, the Brilliant Baby Team will host one Community Connection in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and occasionally Mam. All Community Connections will be hosted at noon and end at 1 pm. If you are a part of our English-speaking community, the Community Connection workshop will be hosted on the 1st Tuesday of each month. If you are a part of our Spanish-speaking community, Community Connections will be held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Our Cantonese-speaking community will meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month. Occasionally, we will host Mam Community Connections, held on the 1st Thursday of the month. As always, these Community Connections are led by community partners, our coaches, and BB staff for families. You will receive event reminders via text and email. We hope meeting each month at the same time and day will benefit our families. If you have questions about Community Connections, please text "BBHelp" to our Customer Service Department at (510) 726-7809 or email us at brilliantbaby@oaklandpromise.org.
Program Updates
Orientations for New Families
New Family Orientation meetings are for new BB parents and caregivers. These meetings will be held through Zoom to welcome recently enrolled families and explain how our program works. Orientation meetings will be held every month on Tuesday or Thursday. They will be hosted in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mam. Depending on the month, we will meet at either 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM or 6:00 PM. If you want to participate in our Financial Literacy Classes and Coaching program and earn a $250 stipend, you first must attend an orientation meeting. After your enrollment appointment, you should receive a text or email inviting you to our upcoming meetings. Pick the one that works best for you! If you need the orientation schedule or you have questions about New Family Orientations or the Financial Literacy and Coaching program, please text "BBHelp" to our Customer Service Department at (510) 726-7809 or email us at brilliantbaby@oaklandpromise.org.
Financial Literacy Classes and Coaching Program
Have you participated in financial coaching? If yes, please feel free to skip to the next section! This section is for BB parents/caregivers participating in our new Financial Literacy and Coaching program. We will host group Financial Literacy classes (FLC) to serve our families better. If you enrolled a baby within the last 6 months and have not yet participated in our coaching program, you will have the opportunity to receive a $250 stipend by attending an orientation then signing up for FLC.
The Brilliant Baby Financial Literacy and Coaching Program hopes to support you and help reduce financial stress on your family. The learning group will meet for one hour at the same day and time for 3 consecutive weeks. You will learn about the basics of personal finances, such as planning for financial goals, money management, and savings. After completing all three classes and filling out the end-of-last-class survey, you will receive a $250 stipend.
You must attend an orientation meeting to participate in group financial coaching classes. If you attended an orientation and need help signing up for your Financial Literacy Classes, or if you have questions about the program, please text "BBHelp" to our Customer Service Department at (510) 726-7809 or email us at brilliantbaby@oaklandpromise.org.
Friends and Family Referral Promotion
The Brilliant Baby team is excited to announce our Friends and Family Referral Promotion! Starting September 3, currently enrolled caregivers will have the opportunity to make money by referring eligible new families to Oakland Promise! We will send each client a unique link to a form that you can use to help someone else sign up for an enrollment appointment with our team. If the person you refer gets enrolled, then you will receive a $20 Zelle payment. If you do not have Zelle, you must pick up a $20 check from our office. Please note - the only way you can get credit for referring a family is if you use the form we send to you! We will continue offering this opportunity as long as we can and will let you know when it’s time to end this promotion. Please continue to check your email and text messages to hear about what is happening next!
Tips to help keep your growing toddler healthy!
Hello, Brilliant Baby Fam! Let's talk about some tips to help keep your growing toddler healthy. These tips are for children between the ages of two and three!
Nutrition
For families who send their children to childcare, the CDC encourages them to ask their providers what nutritious foods and drinks they serve and if they limit television and other screen time. It is also essential to encourage your child to try new foods by offering them small bites to taste. Encouraging them to try new foods while they are young will be helpful when trying to introduce them to healthier foods.
Play Time
According to the CDC, your toddler have as much free play as much as possible. It helps your toddler stay active and allows them to develop motor skills, which are how the body uses muscles to perform tasks like walking, talking, and running.
Sleep
Finally, The CDC recommends toddlers between the ages of 2-3 should have 11–14 hours of sleep, including naps. If you want to learn more tips to keep your child healthy, please click the link below!
Follow the Brilliant Baby Instagram
Are you following the Brilliant Baby Instagram account at #brilliantbabyop? If you want to stay updated, you should follow us! We post fun and helpful content about child development and financial tips. If you have been following us, you have learned how to get a free copy of your credit report, make sure your credit report is correct, and fix the errors if you catch something wrong. Recently, we have also posted positive parenting tips for different age groups. All of our content is translated into Spanish and Cantonese! Additionally, we share community resources and opportunities in our stories. If you want to learn more about positive parenting tips and your credit report, follow us today!
CalKIDS
Did you know your child might be eligible for the Brilliant Baby CSA AND a separate CSA offered by the State of California? There is now an exciting new College Savings Account program called CalKids that is a little like Oakland Promise! CalKids opens 529 plans for every new baby in California and all low-income public school students in grades 1-12! California uses Scholarshare rather than my529, but it works similarly. Babies born between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, receive a $25 seed deposit in a CalKIDS account plus another $25 deposit in your CalKIDS account once you register on the CalKIDS online portal. On their website, you can choose to translate everything into the language of your choice. Babies born on July 1, 2023, or later get a $100 seed deposit! Learn about eligibility for babies & students in California here! https://oaklandpromise.org/calkids. Or go directly to the CalKids website and check your baby's eligibility by clicking the link below.
Do you know how to check the balance
of your Brilliant Baby CSA
at my529.org?
Before you go, let's check-in! We hope you check your child's CSA account periodically. Remember, when your baby graduates from high school, they can use this money for college or trade school! If you move, you can change your address online to keep receiving the statements at your home.
Additionally, getting in the habit of checking your account helps remind you that this account exists. We want to ensure every family knows how to access their account. Attached to the button below is a document to help you log into your account. If you have additional questions about your account, text "BB Help" at 510-726-7809, and one of our team members will respond.
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