Caregivers, community leaders and educators celebrated the grand opening of Rutland County Head Start’s infant and toddler program with a ribbon-cutting event on Thursday afternoon.
The program offers year-round child care in addition to Head Start’s family and nutrition services. Its institution also included the addition of three Early Head Start classrooms and a Family Resource, Art & Literacy Center in the basement of the organization’s 78 Meadow St. location.
Gathered in the newly built Family Resource Center, attendees listened to words of celebration and congratulations from RCHS Director Donna Barrow, Community Care Network CEO Dick Courcelle, CCN Board Chair Jay Slenker, RCHS Policy Council Chair Erynn Hazlett and Mayor Michael Doenges.
“This was a dream of ours for several years,” Slenker told the crowd. “It was something that we wanted to bring to the Rutland community. (We are) in desperate need in the Rutland community (of) high-quality day care and educational care for our children. As a lifelong educator, I know just how important it is for pre-K readiness, starting right from birth and following through the Head Start program.”
Ethan Avendaño-Lawrence from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office, James McNerney from U.S. Sen. Peter Welch’s office, and Jessica Nordhaus from U.S. Rep. Becca Balint’s office also each presented a letter of recognition from their respective legislators.
In addition to the advocacy of state legislators, the new program was also made possible through grant support provided by the Bowse Trust and Let’s Grow Kids. Early Head Start grants are not just dished out by the Administration for Children and Families,” Courcelle told the crowd. “All three, both of our senators and our congressperson, made a huge difference in taking this across the finish line, convincing Health and Human Services of how important this was to our community.”
RCHS serves 45 preschool-aged students, while its infant toddler program serves 27 children birth to age 3.
Officially opened to students Jan. 2, the renovation and institution of the program was completed and prepared for launch in under three months.
Barrow attributed the swiftness to the dedicated Head Start educators and staff members who chipped in on renovation work. She added that everything in the spaces is designed around infant and toddler development.
“(We thought) about environments when building this space,” she said. “All of the visitors today said, ‘Wow, this is so calming.’ But there’s intentionality that goes into that. … What are the colors? What are the materials? And of course, that goes for the programming, too.”
Moving forward, Barrow said RCHS has plans to institute more professional development opportunities for staff, potentially expand summer programming for preschoolers and fix up the outdoor and playground spaces.
She added that RCHS is also writing a grant to establish an after-school lab school that would expand the organization’s partnership with Vermont State University Castleton’s early childhood education and special education programs.
Though Barrow said there is a short waitlist for the infant and toddler program, she encouraged caregivers to sign up for it now if they are interested in enrolling a student. She added that there are still a few spots open in the preschool program.
Those interested can learn more about applying at rutlandcountyheadstart.org.
“Now that we’ve got both programs running, it’s time to slow down and enjoy the joy, the play and the intentionality of being with our children,” said RCHS Education Manager Missy Burke. “We’ve gotten here, now we need to slow down and just enjoy what we’re doing — and as we do that, build the systems for how we want next year to really launch.”
One of the three new infant and toddler spaces added to Rutland County Head Start as part of the new program is pictured here.