March 13, 2006

The Moran/JMFE Community Outreach Initiative is Improving Child Care
Services Available to Families with Low Incomes in Broward County

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. — Five years after it was founded, an outreach program at Nova Southeastern University’s Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies is working to ensure families in low income communities get access to quality child care in their own neighborhoods.

The Moran/JMFE Community Outreach Initiative is providing free education courses to child care workers at community child care centers, parenting classes to families throughout Broward County, and is helping many child care centers earn national accreditation, a mark that the facilities are providing a level of quality early childhood education to young children.

The initiative, funded by a $3 million grant from Jim and Jan Moran/JM Family Enterprises, is significant because it provides some of Broward County’s poorest families with access to a level of child care services once only available at exclusive day schools. Additionally, it will increase the number of accredited child care facilities available county-wide, just as the state institutes its Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (The state now pays for three hours of pre-K for any four-year-old who wants to attend an approved child care setting). 

Since 2001, early childhood experts from the Mailman Segal Institute have worked with 28 preschools in Broward County. Forty child care workers (most live in the neighborhoods where they work), have been granted scholarships to complete the one-year program to earn the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. And 10 child care centers have been accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

The goal is to provide the caregiver instruction necessary to help as many children—especially those in low income communities—as possible get the best care during the critical ages of birth to five years old and be ready for school. 

“We’ve come so far, but there is still much more to do,” said Mary Jean Woika, the administrator of the Moran Project.

A Growing Need for Quality Child Care

Programs like the Moran Outreach Initiative address a critical need for improved child care and preschools in South Florida, said Jesse Leinfelder, child care quality supervisor for Broward County’s Children Services Administration Division. 

Leinfelder said a 1995 study of available child care in the nation found that 50 percent of all care facilities for infants and toddlers were of dangerously low quality. Among preschools (those for children ages 3 to 5), only 24 percent were considered adequate or good.

But early care and education is big business in the state. Over the course of a decade, the number of companies offering early childhood programs has more than doubled, according to published reports. Parents have little way of discerning which centers will offer their children quality care.

Several years ago, while working at the Mailman Segal Institute, Leinfelder began work with community partners to create a rating system which would help parents identify which centers offered the best care.  The Quality Rating System, now in effect, provides guidance to child care businesses about the components of high quality care and education. The program has been implemented in collaboration with the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County; Broward County Child Care Licensing; Family Central, Inc.; the Children’s Services Council of Broward County, and NSU’s Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies.

Voluntary Prekindergarten

A constitutional amendment passed by Florida’s voters in Nov. 2002 required a voluntary prekindergarten program for all four-year-old children by fall 2005. House Bill 1-A was signed into law by Governor Bush on January 2, 2005, creating a program designed to prepare four-year-olds for kindergarten and build the foundation for their educational success. The program allows a parent to enroll his or her eligible child (four years old by September 1 and residing in Florida) in a free VPK program. The program is voluntary for children and providers.

The VPK program began in the 2005-2006 school year. Public, private, and faith-based providers may be eligible to deliver the program depending on whether they meet the minimum standards required in law.

About the Jim Moran Foundation

The mission of The Jim Moran Foundation is to improve the quality of life for the youth and families of Florida through the support of innovative programs and opportunities that meet the ever-changing needs of the community. To learn more about The Foundation visit www.jimmoranfoundation.org or call 954/429-2122.

About the Mailman Segal Institute

The Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies is housed in the Jim & Jan Moran Family Center Village of Nova Southeastern University, a state of the art demonstration and training facility which enables the institute to showcase best practices in the fields of early childhood education, special education, family support, and parenting education.