Fall InSight Supporter Newsletter

Well hello there! I hope you had a great summer; although I can’t believe we’re in Fall already.

It’s that time again when we pause to catch our breath and update you on what’s been happening here at CentroNía and what’s coming down the line. During this pause we take stock of how much the support you provide us actually goes. We’re so grateful that you’re standing with us to educate children and youth and strengthen families.

As we enter Fall, CentroNía Maryland made it clear what time it is with their annual Pumpkin Painting event. It was also time to congratulate this year’s graduating cohort for our Child Development Associate (CDA). The graduates, celebrated with their family and friends at the recent graduation events for the Spanish and English cohorts. Plans are also underway for the Amharic cohort. Stay tuned for details.

As we welcomed new and existing children back for the new school year and celebrated our CDA graduating cohorts, we were also filled with some trepidation due to talk of an imminent government shutdown. Disaster was however averted; even though the specter of a shutdown and the dire consequences for providers of early childhood education and childcare still hangs in the air there are no signs that universal childcare will be the norm any time soon. Our Intern this year, Eimi Nishihira, has taken a look at the issue in an article in this edition of InSight.

There’s still a lot to do for universal childcare for young children, particularly when it comes to the extended-care programing. CentroNía’s full-day care is supplemented with extended-care services for children 0-4 years old and out-of-school time programming for children 5 to 10 years old, which provides safe, quality supervision while parents and caregivers work or attend school. Support from individual donors and foundations go a long way towards “funding the gap” so that parents have the peace of mind that their children are in a safe, caring and enriching environment.

It is also my pleasure to share that we’re growing! CentroNía is working to open two new child development centers which will provide high-quality early childhood education and care to 170 children 0 to 5 years old. The establishment of CentroNía's new Early Childhood Development Centers will address the pressing need for quality early childhood education in these parts of the District of Columbia and Montgomery County (Maryland). By providing a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment, we aim to set children on a trajectory of lifelong learning and success. We sincerely hope that you will consider supporting this endeavor, as it will have a lasting and positive impact on the lives of the young children and families in our community. We’re launching a campaign in the next few weeks to raise funds to help us outfit the centers with classroom furniture, purchase resources required to fulfill curriculum standards, and install kitchen equipment to provide healthy meals at a total cost of $350,000.

We hope we can count on your support in meeting this goal by sharing this amazing news with your family, friends and colleagues. We will be calling for support in-kind like toys, books, volunteers and of course, cash gifts. Now I’m off to get some lovely fall photos!

Have a great Fall Season.

Sincerely,

Patrick Salami

Director of Development & Communications

202-332-4200 | psalami@centronia.org

P.S. Feel free to share our quarterly InSight newsletter with friends and make sure to follow CentroNía on social media!

As of September 28, Congress was on track to trigger a government shutdown starting on October 1.

For context, a government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to enact the 12 annual appropriation bills. If this does not happen, federal agencies must halt all “non-essential” functions until Congress acts to fix things. During a shutdown, many federal employees who are not considered essential do not go to work. A shutdown can disrupt things such as passport application times, business loans, national parks, and much more.

So, what would this mean for early childhood education in particular I hear you ask?....

If you would like to read more visit our blog at www.centronia.org!

CentroNía is proud to announce its expansion with two new centers in Silver Spring, Maryland and Bunker Hill Elementary in Washington DC! We are currently in the planning process for both sites with opening dates slated for 2024.

With this great opportunity we are able to expand our services and programs to more families in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Our mission in providing high quality early childhood education and childcare to low-income families continues to be vital to the communities we serve. These new CentroNía centers will allow us to continue our mission and administer critical services that families need in order for them and their children to succeed.

To keep up on any news on our expansion, follow us on our social media pages!

Van Metre Companies

Before the school year begins, CentroNía gets its teachers, staff, classrooms, and centers ready for the returning and new early learners. This year we got help from our friends at Van Metre Companies to make sure our Columbia Road center was in tip top shape.

They were able to help us out in painting our walls, front entrance fence and decorate our walls with fun new wall decals for all our students and families to see!

Visit our Facebook page to have a look at their visit!

Management Leadership for Tomorrow

This month CentroNía also welcomed volunteers from the Management Leadership for Tomorrow company! They were able to spend some quality time with a few of our Pre-K students as they read some fun stories.

Our early learners are always eager to meet new friends and to showcase what they are currently learning in the classroom with their friends. To have more of an inside look at this visit, head to our social media pages for more pictures!

Interested in volunteering? Visit our volunteer webpage on www.centronia.org or send us a message at communications@centronia.org

As we get closer to the giving season, we are starting to prepare different ways for us to help our CentroNía families and community. One of the many ways is partnering with community organizations and institutions, one being St. Augustine Catholic Church. Once again, this year, we are happy to be receiving donations from St. Augustine for the Thanksgiving season.

St. Augustine provides hundreds of turkeys and food baskets for those who may struggle to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal. For the last several years, they were able to generously provide turkeys and bags with food for families in Washington DC.

We are thankful for St. Augustine and their continued support and look forward to being able to provide Thanksgiving meals to families once again this holiday season!

Back to School

This August CentroNía welcomed early learners to our centers! We are excited to have started this new school year and are ready to embark on a new, fun educational journey with our students.

Visit our LinkedIn Page for more pictures!

CentroNía CDA Graduations

This September CentroNía celebrated our Child Development Associate (CDA) credential graduates with graduation ceremonies!

Our Spanish and English cohorts completed their CDA certification and we are proud to have been a part of their early childhood education journey.

Congratulations to all the graduates! Visit our Facebook Page for more pictures.

CentroNía Maryland Pumpkin Painting

To kick off the fall season, our early learners at our Maryland center had a fun pumpkin painting event with their families! They also learned about the different parts of a pumpkin and how it grows.

Thank you to all who stopped by to have some fall fun and for creating some wonderful pumpkin art.

Visit our Facebook Page for more pictures!