Community members interested in the childcare needs of Grant County are invited to attend the morning session from 8-9:30 a.m. of an all-day retreat on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 at the WNMU Global Resource Center to hear from a national expert, Celissa Hoyt, who will talk about the business model of shared services nationally and locally.
The full day retreat will take place for Community Partnership for Children (CPC) and its LINKS shared service pilot project. Childcare has a huge impact on area economic development, and community must be invested and get involved. Families need to work; employers need employees; and children need quality programs with well-trained staff.
Cellissa Hoyt is the state director of the State Early Learning Alliance of New Hampshire and is executive director of Growing Places. Cellissa was one of 10 founding members of the Seacoast Early Learning Alliance (SELA), a shared service model for early childhood programs to strengthen business practices and enhance program quality so that more resources are directed to quality for children. Now known as the State Early Learning Alliance of NH, 180 programs are tapping into the many benefits and services of SELA and Cellissa is the full-time State SELA Director.
Community Partnership for Children, a 501c3 organization, has been in existence 13 years. This board is made up of directors whose mission is to promote excellence in the care and development of young children. Charlene Gomez serves as the chairwoman of the group, and vacancies on the board await your filling them.
CPC’s first project through federal funding was a partnership with the county to develop the Baby Boot Camp Childcare Program, which is now a privately owned for-profit business.
In 2014, CPC began to network the childcare centers in Grant County by creating a shared service alliance. The CPC has created LINKS, a pilot project connecting childcare centers in Grant County, as they develop a model unique to the individual needs of the partners. Currently, there are five centers participating in this network; Let the Children Come, El Grito Head Start, Guadalupe Montessori, Foy Day Care, and WNMU Child Development Center. These centers are working towards a shared resources model that will better enable them to function as a business and to provide quality care for the families and young children.
LINKS shared service pilot project, sponsored by CPC, has as its mission to support childcare centers in Grant County through strengthening the network of support and resources, keeping the uniqueness of their programs and supporting the economic development of the community. CPC/LINKS is committed to continue addressing the urgent need for quality childcare programs in the near future to help ease the effects of the loss of the long-standing Little Lambs program, which was the only year-round facility and was housed in the Methodist Church.
This pilot project was initially funded by Freeport-McMoRan Community Investment Fund, and since its inception has gained the support of the Con Alma, Brindle and Thornburg foundation, and as well as United Way. Funding has allowed CPC to create jobs in the community, which include: three contracted employees and the creation of six positions for a substitute pool or ‘relief squad’ shared among centers. The purchase of Pro Care software for all centers is providing a resource to improve business skills and potentially link sites together for gathering data. Technical assistance funding is providing training, mentoring, coaching from Hoyt in how to build a shared back-office hub that will match center needs and those of the community.