成长以满足巨大的儿童保育需求

作者:Rhea Maze

Cassondra Baker felt uneasy about taking her fourth child to a childcare center. “I didn’t have a great experience taking my older children to daycare centers,” Baker says. But after a referral from the Larimer County Department of Human 服务 and a recommendation from a friend, she decided to get on the waiting list at 教树幼儿学习中心. “Walking into 教学树, I immediately noticed its comfortable, clean atmosphere. 只是感觉不一样.” Baker’s daughter began attending 教学树 at 5 months old and is now 2-and-a-half and thriving. “I’ve been so happy with the loving, attentive care she has received.”

教树幼儿学习中心 is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1970 with the goal of providing Larimer County with affordable, 高质量的儿童保育. 它现在经营着两个中心, 一个在柯林斯堡，一个在洛夫兰, 照顾6周到5岁的儿童. 教学树’s unique model allows them to offer a sliding fee based on income to those who qualify. Families enrolled at 教学树 include full-paying clients and children of parents who are involved with human services or participating in employment and training programs.

“What makes us really unique is the diversity we serve,安妮·兰斯说, 教学树的执行董事. “Our students represent a mix of economic statuses and cultural backgrounds and that experience is great for kids because it reflects the real world.”

Maintaining general affordability while supporting families with limited incomes and providing enough for scholarships and teacher salaries is an ongoing challenge for the organization. “教学树 has done a really great job of building a sustainable model,Jodie Riesenberger说, 教学树的董事会主席.

对质量的需求, 可负担得起的托儿服务处于历史最高水平, 超过6,000 children on waitlists for childcare in Larimer County. 教学树 is experiencing the longest waitlists they’ve seen in nearly 50 years of operation, with over 300 families waiting to get into the Fort Collins facility alone.

“缺乏儿童保育不仅仅是拉里默县的问题, 这是一个全国性的问题,丽莎·萨达尔说, quality resources manager for the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, an agency that regularly observes and evaluates 教学树’s programming. “And part of it is that as a society we aren’t fully realizing how important it is to invest in young children. So until we can shift that view, we will be short on childcare.”

来帮助解决这个问题, 教学树’s Fort Collins location will expand in 2019 into its neighboring building, 拉里默县联合劝募会的所在地, 通过与柯林斯堡市的20年租约. The expansion will create six new classrooms and two new naturalized playgrounds, allowing the enrollment capacity to increase from 101 students to 215 students.

“I’m thrilled about the opportunity 教学树 now has to expand and serve more children,里森伯格说. “And while the local need is far greater than the additional 114 kids we’re going to be able to serve, every spot that opens up helps to address the communitywide problem.”

除了可及性和可负担性, 教学树 stands out for its unique programming and dedication to forging community partnerships that enrich the experience for families as well as staff. These include collaborations with the Children’s Speech and Reading Center, 哪个提供语言和阅读评估, 放映, 推荐, 语音活动, and additional services for students; the Fort Collins Lions Club, which provides vision 放映 for students; Salud Family Health Centers, which provides dental 放映 for students; and SummitStone Health Partners, which provide various mental health resources and support for students and their families, 对中心工作人员也是一样.

教学树 also has free yoga for students every Friday. 课外活动，比如足球, 空手道, and ballet are offered in-house to enrolled students for additional fees, 或者是奖学金, so that parents don’t have to find time to fit activities in after school.

让孩子们做好上幼儿园的准备, 教学树 follows the Pyramid Model for promoting social-emotional competence in children, and Creative Curriculum programming that focuses on project-based investigations that foster social-emotional, 物理, 认知, 以及所有课堂的语言发展, 包括婴儿房.  

“通过金字塔模型, 我们教孩子如何同情他人, 做一个好朋友, 解决问题, 确认和识别情绪,” says Fort Collins center director Jennifer Van Cleave. “Those social-emotional skills provide the basis for learning.”

“What has always stood out to me is how 教学树 steps up to ensure that they are providing high quality, 培养, and responsive care to young children and how they consistently make it part of their culture to address children’s social and emotional wellbeing,萨达尔说。. “Regardless of how chaotic a child’s life might be outside of the program, at 教学树 they can trust that things will be consistent from day-to-day, 同时也很吸引人，很丰富. We need more childcare options like this that provide consistency and high-quality experiences for our community’s most valuable assets, 我们最小的孩子, 因为这很重要.”

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