The Early Community Action Teams of Bell County, or E-CATCH as it is known, is an organization established in an effort to support children of Bell County — usually from their birth until they enter kindergarten. E-CATCH is just one of the many local and Kentucky based organizations focused on helping the youth of the community. Others include The Children’s Reading Foundation, HANDS, The Appalachia Mentoring Project and more.

Making parents aware of the local resources that help provide childcare is important. E-CATCH has listed all of the childcare programs in Bell County. There are nine total, with eight of them being licensed and the ninth being a family childcare home. There are two in Pineville — First Friends Learning Center and Bell-Whitley Early Head Start Preschool. Middlesboro has its own Bell-Whitley Early Head Start Preschool as well as Gateway Christian Academy, Kidz Korner Daycare, Noah’s Ark Daycare Center, Pride and Joy Child Care, Small Wonders Child Development Center, LLC and the certified center is Donna’s Certified Home Center run by Donna Gaye.

Beginning Feb. 8. there will be three bag lunch roundtable trainings for administrators at the Middlesboro Public Library. The first session is titled “Transfer of Knowledge” and entails what staff learns in their training and gets applied in their daily practice. The second session on Feb. 15 is titled “Caution! Contents Under Pressure” and is focused on how to give support to creative teachers in an environment that promotes compliance and meeting mandates. The third and last session on Feb. 20 is called “How To Speak So Staff Will Listen” and is geared toward becoming active listeners and how different personality types play a role in communication.

Each session is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Each session costs $20 and is $50 for all three.