Running a center like ours sometimes provides lots of opportunities for dealing in the here and now, while time for taking a long-term view and making long-term plans is sometimes hard to find. I am sure that we are not unique in this, and many nonprofit agencies find it hard to think ahead and plan for the long-term future in the press of daily business.
Providing a safe and healthy learning environment for the 100 children in our care often takes every minute of every day, but stepping back to think ahead is essential if we are to reach our goal of earning accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
This summer, our fundraising children's carnival was a big success (we raised more than $4,000), and we purposefully chose to spend some of the proceeds on a very long-term improvement to our center. We purchased a beautiful golden locust tree and planted it on a warm and sunny day in September.
Over the past few years, we have made dramatic improvements to our outside play area. We now have three separate fenced in areas for safe outdoor play. We have climbing and crawling apparatus with the right amount of Woodcarpet (impact absorbing surface) underneath. We have safe swings, sturdy trikes and toddler coupes, and two four-seater strollers as well as an eight seater. We have some garden areas with flowers and shrubs around our building. Thanks to Megan and Sara, two teachers who took the initiative and do the upkeep, we have a bird feeder.
But what we did not have was a tree. While the perimeter of our building contains several trees, there are no trees in the play areas used by our children. Up until now, there was always a more critical need for our discretionary dollars. This year, as we worked on our accreditation application, it was important to us to affirm our faith in the strong future of our agency and plant a shade tree. Even though it will be years before our tree creates a large amount of shade, planting it now means that it will grow large enough to provide shade sooner than if we had waited any longer to plant it.
Watching it grow will also provide a learning experience for our children, both now and in the future.
Planting the tree also provided a link to our past. The original Neighborhood House building that is remembered by many folks in Auburn was located right next door to our new building on what is now the grassy area where our children play. As a friend of Neighborhood House dug the hole for the tree, he encountered some large chunks of the old foundation. We used some of these to make a ring around the tree to protect it from lawn mower damage and to provide a little garden area around it as well.
Many of our teachers helped to shovel in the soil around the root ball of the tree and our older children watched the progress of the tree planting with interest. Our children created a learning activity about parts of a tree the morning we planted it, and we will enjoy reading lots of tree themed books with our children in the next month.
We also took a little time this month to plan for the future on our fall training day. Each year, with the support of our board of directors, we close for two days to provide an opportunity for staff training. This training is required of all centers in New York state, and at Neighborhood House, we work hard to make this investment of time and funds meaningful and useful, not simply a mandated requirement to complete and “check off the list.” Penny Lupo, our program coordinator, is responsible for planning the day. This year, we worked on classroom management strategies that will help all children feel more comfortable, secure and better able to learn.
Meeting the needs of all students can sometimes be a trying task for teachers, so learning additional classroom management strategies can help teachers make the classroom a welcoming place for all students. We then worked to train teachers about portfolio assessment. This more comprehensive assessment method than a simple checklist will give families, teachers and support staff a more accurate picture of a child's development. We will be able to be more proactive in addressing children's needs and securing extra support when necessary. In the afternoon, storyteller Regi Carpenter, led a great session on literacy activities that are both fun and enriching for young children.
Remember that this year's United Way campaign is presently underway. Neighborhood House is just one of the 21 agencies that receive funding from the United Way of Cayuga County. The results of this year's campaign will be shared at the community celebration on Dec. 6. Jean and Tom Lewis, this year's campaign chairs, have done an outstanding job of rallying interest and support of this year's fundraising effort and I encourage everyone to follow their lead and support the campaign. A successful campaign means that the community services provided by the member agencies can continue or even expand, in the years to come. At this “thankful” time of the year, we thank the donors and volunteers who have worked to make this year's camping successful.
Susan Jones is executive director for the Neighborhood House in Auburn.
This summer, our fundraising children's carnival was a big success (we raised more than $4,000), and we purposefully chose to spend some of the proceeds on a very long-term improvement to our center. We purchased a beautiful golden locust tree and planted it on a warm and sunny day in September.
Over the past few years, we have made dramatic improvements to our outside play area. We now have three separate fenced in areas for safe outdoor play. We have climbing and crawling apparatus with the right amount of Woodcarpet (impact absorbing surface) underneath. We have safe swings, sturdy trikes and toddler coupes, and two four-seater strollers as well as an eight seater. We have some garden areas with flowers and shrubs around our building. Thanks to Megan and Sara, two teachers who took the initiative and do the upkeep, we have a bird feeder.
But what we did not have was a tree. While the perimeter of our building contains several trees, there are no trees in the play areas used by our children. Up until now, there was always a more critical need for our discretionary dollars. This year, as we worked on our accreditation application, it was important to us to affirm our faith in the strong future of our agency and plant a shade tree. Even though it will be years before our tree creates a large amount of shade, planting it now means that it will grow large enough to provide shade sooner than if we had waited any longer to plant it.
Watching it grow will also provide a learning experience for our children, both now and in the future.
Planting the tree also provided a link to our past. The original Neighborhood House building that is remembered by many folks in Auburn was located right next door to our new building on what is now the grassy area where our children play. As a friend of Neighborhood House dug the hole for the tree, he encountered some large chunks of the old foundation. We used some of these to make a ring around the tree to protect it from lawn mower damage and to provide a little garden area around it as well.
Many of our teachers helped to shovel in the soil around the root ball of the tree and our older children watched the progress of the tree planting with interest. Our children created a learning activity about parts of a tree the morning we planted it, and we will enjoy reading lots of tree themed books with our children in the next month.
We also took a little time this month to plan for the future on our fall training day. Each year, with the support of our board of directors, we close for two days to provide an opportunity for staff training. This training is required of all centers in New York state, and at Neighborhood House, we work hard to make this investment of time and funds meaningful and useful, not simply a mandated requirement to complete and “check off the list.” Penny Lupo, our program coordinator, is responsible for planning the day. This year, we worked on classroom management strategies that will help all children feel more comfortable, secure and better able to learn.
Meeting the needs of all students can sometimes be a trying task for teachers, so learning additional classroom management strategies can help teachers make the classroom a welcoming place for all students. We then worked to train teachers about portfolio assessment. This more comprehensive assessment method than a simple checklist will give families, teachers and support staff a more accurate picture of a child's development. We will be able to be more proactive in addressing children's needs and securing extra support when necessary. In the afternoon, storyteller Regi Carpenter, led a great session on literacy activities that are both fun and enriching for young children.
Remember that this year's United Way campaign is presently underway. Neighborhood House is just one of the 21 agencies that receive funding from the United Way of Cayuga County. The results of this year's campaign will be shared at the community celebration on Dec. 6. Jean and Tom Lewis, this year's campaign chairs, have done an outstanding job of rallying interest and support of this year's fundraising effort and I encourage everyone to follow their lead and support the campaign. A successful campaign means that the community services provided by the member agencies can continue or even expand, in the years to come. At this “thankful” time of the year, we thank the donors and volunteers who have worked to make this year's camping successful.
Susan Jones is executive director for the Neighborhood House in Auburn.
