Sept. 15, 2006 – The Driehaus Community Development Fund II at the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands donated $50,000 to The Family Connection Center. The center is an initiative designed to provide training programs, networking and resource tools to the territory's hardworking child care providers, early education professionals and parents of young children. The gift will be used to purchase toys and materials for an early childhood development lending library and for professional development learning materials, according to a press release from CFVI President Dee Baecher-Brown.
"It is our pleasure to support the work of The Family Connection Center. At Driehaus Capital we value the work of early childcare professionals and are happy to provide resources to enhance the quality of their work. We also believe in the importance of family as a child's first teacher and in providing opportunities for learning, so assisting in the work of the TFC Center was a natural for us," said Dale Pudrycki of Driehaus Capital Management (USVI) LLC.
The Family Connection's mission is to strengthen the community childcare and early education "infrastructure" in the U.S. Virgin Islands. "CFVI chose to focus on early childcare based on our findings in six years of KIDS COUNT in the USVI, where we looked at the challenges facing our children, youth and families. Research findings demonstrate that for every $1 a community invests in providing high-quality early childhood programs, $17 is saved in welfare, special education and criminal justice costs. We believe that this type of investment makes sense for our community," said Baecher-Brown.
"We are very excited about this generous donation from the Driehaus Community Development Fund II and amazed at the broad based support we have received so far for this initiative. We hope that many other organizations will join us to benefit all of the territory's children," said CFVI's Chairman of the Board, Ricardo J. Charaf.
The TFC Center will provide programs and services for childcare providers and parents including: training opportunities; a book, toy, and video lending library; meeting space for childcare professionals; a home for a locally affiliated Early Childhood Association; newsletters about child care issues; quality enhancement grants; technical assistance; a database of child care providers; a clearinghouse for training and education opportunities; and access to technological equipment. It will also assist childcare providers in obtaining NAEYC accreditation for their programs and technical assistance for individuals to obtain their Child Development Associate credentials.
CFVI will hold the formal opening of The Family Connection Center (TFC Center) on Saturday, Oct. 14. For more information about CFVI or The Family Connection Center, call 774-6031.
