WMCC Early Childhood Initiative Helps Lancaster Play and Learn Center Earn Licensed Plus Status
Lancaster Play and Learn Center is the latest Coös County child care center to join the ranks of those earning "Licensed Plus" status. WMCC alumna Amy Graham is the director of the not-for-profit business which employs seven full time and three part time staff. "I'm proud of my staff," says Graham, "They're attending workshops, earning credentials, and some are taking college courses."
The Child Development Bureau recently informed Graham that her center, which is licensed for a maximum of 49 children, earned this quality rating. Licensed Plus is a New Hampshire quality rating system that recognizes child care programs for their efforts to improve the quality of care for young children. It allows families to identify programs that strive to improve their practices and staff qualifications with the goal of improving the quality of care that they deliver to children. Ms. Graham was assisted in her efforts by the Early Childhood Initiative here at White Mountains Community College (WMCC) in Berlin.
Lancaster Play and Learn Center is one of ten child care centers represented in the Director Network, a collaborative group of directors who meet monthly to share their expertise and learn new and innovative processes for improving their work. Ms. Graham attended the early childhood field's annual professional development conference in Phoenix, Arizona last year, sponsored by the National Association for the Education for Young Children (NAEYC). She has since been an attendee of the Leadership Institute in Whitefield, the NHAEYC conference in Plymouth, and many other local trainings and workshops focused on improving early childhood settings. She is the mother of two children and resides in Lancaster.
The Director Network is about growing quality over time," said Sue Cloutier, director of the Gorham Community Learning Center, "and Amy is doing a fabulous job moving her center forward." Currently, New Hampshire has 134 Licensed Plus centers. To be eligible to apply for Licensed Plus, a program must be a NH licensed child care program in good standing. Programs must demonstrate compliance with a minimum of sixteen additional quality standards and submit an application. These required elements include specific professional development activities for the director and staff, additional policies and procedures, and evidence of reflective practices.
White Mountains Community College is home to the Early Childhood Initiative and is a partner in the Early Childhood Development North Country Strategy funded by the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The goal of the Initiative is to help child care centers throughout Coös County improve the quality of their programs. The five-year Strategy is designed to help all children thrive by focusing services and information for parents on the early years of growth and development, supporting professional development and continued education for early childhood professionals, increasing access to infant mental health, and strengthening childcare and preschool services for all children, ages 0 6, in Coös County. It is guided by the belief that investing early in families with young children will improve the future community and economic vitality and stability of the North Country. For more information about this Initiative, please contact Kathy Keene at kkeene@ccsnh.edu, or call 603.752.1113 ext. 3293.
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