United Way of Northern New Mexico awarded Family Learning Center, a five-star child care facility in Española, $60,000 to fund two of its initiatives, the after school and pre-kindergarten programs, at a small ceremony on June 10.
The pre-kindergarten program has been the flagship program for the Family Learning Center in Española and is designed to prepare children for kindergarten. The children play music to develop motor skills and learn about a variety of subjects such as science, in addition to taking field trips.
“We are able to take the kids to the Albuquerque museum, to the Museum of Natural History,” Family Learning Center Executive Director Rita Seeds said.
The after school program is a new project the Center decided to initiate for kindergarten through sixth grade students and will begin in the fall at the Española Elementary School. Three teachers will be available at the school from the time the students get out of school, until 6 p.m.
The purpose of the program is to provide students a safe place to be until their parents pick them up after work or school.
From the moment students arrive, they do homework and instructors will be on hand to assist them with any questions they have.
The children will then have a break and the final part of the day will either be spent reading in the library, or working with the software installed on the computers in the computer lab.
“The computer lab already has programs set for specific age groups. They have 60 iPads over there that we can use,” Seeds said. “I, myself, was amazed that we have this type of computer lab and iPads for our kids in the Española Valley.”
There were a couple of reasons the Center was given the grant award. One reason is continuity. The Family Learning Center has been funded by United Way before and has established a longterm relationship with the foundation.
“It’s a really great organization and they seem to have some very dedicated staff that has been there for a really long time and I think that’s very important,” Kristy Ortega, executive director of United Way of Northern New Mexico said. “They hold a five-star license through CYFD (Children Youth and Families Department) and so that’s a very good rating. That is the most stars you can get, I think.”
Another reason is need. United Way is making early learning childcare centers a priority when it decides to provide funding for various groups.
“We based a lot of what we are doing now on kind of a needs assessment that both community health councils do here in Los Alamos and down in Rio Arriba County,” Ortega said. “And what’s become a very obvious need in both of the communities is the need for affordable childcare so that parents are able to go to school or work, and so we try to look for the best organizations.”
Even with the many childcare programs in Rio Arriba County, it is the connections the Center made within the community that made it stand out.
However, there are conditions associated with receiving the grant money.
The Center must provide bi-annual progress reports and a final report that provide details about how it has used the money and anecdotal stories to describe how the children have benefited from the grant.
United Way will also make periodic site visits to the Center to make sure the money is used in an appropriate way.