MountainHeart Community Services, Inc. is looking forward to celebrating the Week of the Young Child during the week of April 6-12. The Week of the Young Child highlights the importance of families, early childhood professionals, and communities working together to support every child’s healthy development and early learning.
“Quality early childhood education is one of the best investments MountainHeart Community Services, Inc. can make for our children’s future,” said Peggy Rittenhouse, community outreach and resource specialist. Research shows that children attending high quality programs are more likely to develop the language, pre-mathematics, and social skills they need to succeed in school.
Local celebrations of the Week of the Young Child are designed to build broader support for early childhood programs that nurture young children’s early learning and growth.
“Early childhood is where our future begins,” said Rittenhouse. “If we value our children, our families, our schools, and our community, we must make accessible, affordable, high-quality early childhood education a priority.”
MountainHeart Community Services advocates a comprehensive effort to improve the quality of early childhood education, including providing professional development and technical assistance opportunities, improving the health and safety of child care programs, using developmentally appropriate practices to encourage literacy and learning from birth and supporting the family’s crucial role in early education.
MountainHeart employs a professional development team that consists of behavioral consultants, early childhood specialists, infant/toddler specialists, a quality improvement specialist and two TRAILS teams. These early childhood professionals work to improve professional practice and working conditions in early childhood education and to build public support for high-quality early childhood education programs. MountainHeart’s subsidy team can assist families in applying for subsidy services and educate them on what quality child care looks like.
MountainHeart Community Services, Inc. is an affiliate of NAEYC, the largest organization of early childhood educators and others dedicated to improving the quality of early education programs for children born through age eight.
For more information about services that MountainHeart offers, call the local MountainHeart office in Petersburg office at 304-257-9375.
