Home / CDI (Daycare Center)

CASA’s Early Childhood Development Center
(Daycare and Preschool)

Since 1985, CASA has provided care to the youngest children and most vulnerable families – those headed by women. The center began as an improvised daycare service for children of CASA employees and eventually converted into a professional daycare center with the capacity to attend to some 200+ babies and children, ranging from the age of 40 days to 6 years. The center’s professional staff and volunteer base include pre-school teachers, social workers, nurses, doctors, midwives, and youth peer health counselors. The Center strives to be a high quality educational facility that promotes children´s comprehensive development during the critical first 6 years of life via diverse strategies and activities. The center focuses on identifying and resolving the many problems that affect a child’s development including social, health, behavioral and environmental challenges. In addition to working with the children, the skilled staff provides the parents and the community with training on how to respect a child´s rights. The education program emphasizes the importance of values such as respect, courtesy and cooperation with others as well as housekeeping and personal hygiene habits. One half of the children are from single mother households and the majority of enrolled children receive scholarships.

Achievements to date

• Since opening, some 1,800 children ages 3 months to 6 years old and more than 1,200 families have been served; there are currently 170 children enrolled.
• Promotion of reading: Every day all children visit the CASA library; in 2010 the kids borrowed 13,647 books (43% more than the previous year).
• Nutrition: Well-balanced, nutritional meals are provided twice a day, and are prepared under the supervision of a certified nutritionist. From January to October 2011, the kitchen staff served a total of 61,642 meals.
• Health: Monthly medical examinations to monitor the children´s growth and nutritional requirements.
• Medical Insurance: for all students in case of accidents inside the facility.
• As part of the school’s certification process as a “Safe School”, the teaching staff has received training in first-aid, the use of fire-extinguishers, evacuation procedures and CPR. The American Heart Association accredited the school.
• Praise from Ministry of Education: Guanajuato's Ministry of Education (SEG) awarded the Institution a score of 9 out of 10 for quality, education, and work with children making it known as a “Quality School.”
• We are proud to have motivated and helped Camila Hernandez (a girl with Robinow–Silverman Smith syndrome) to walk. This was accomplished in our school, through the efforts of our staff.

Goals for 2011

• To increase recreational activities for the children.
• To insure that the educational personnel have constant and up-to-date training.
• To increase the children book collection.
• To achieve economic stability up to 85% with the goal that some children can finance other children and that the entire teaching staff at CDI continually receives training. Also that none of the families pay the actual cost of the service, that all students receive a scholarship with at least 60% of the average cost of the program. For more information on how to sponsor a child, make a donation, or become a volunteer, click here.

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