Southeast Children's Fund

About Us

Mission and History

Southeast Children’s Fund, Inc. (SCF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that has been serving the Washington, DC community since 1993. Its mission is to address the cognitive, emotional, educational, and economic obstacles faced by children, families and childcare providers through training, technical assistance and dissemination of practical, hands on research information. SCF achieves its mission by providing programming that includes quality child care, training for the child development workforce, and activities that improve the ability of parents to support themselves and their families and become more involved in their children’s education.

Responding to a call for more subsidized child care slots for infants and toddlers issued by the Office of Early Childhood Development (now Early Care and Education Administration), SCF opened the Southeast Children’s Fund Child Development Center. SCF purchased property to house the Center near its corporate location and outfitted it to provide a secure and stimulating environment for learning and development. The Center is licensed for children six months to 12 years, and was accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children in 2005. SCF hired and trained teachers and caretakers to provide child care that promotes healthy development of children’s cognitive, social/emotional, physical and language/literacy skills. Teachers and child caretakers use the Creative Curriculum to guide staff’s approach to child care. Today, the Center provides quality care for 62 children. SCF encourages its staff to continue their early childhood education and helps them attain free or low cost training at local universities. SCF also maintains a fund to assist staff to attend key professional events and training to ensure that their knowledge of child development remains current. Today, all teachers and child care workers hold a Child Development Associate Credential in the age setting in which they work, and a number have attained their Associate and Bachelor degrees or are currently working towards a higher education degree.

SCF’s executive director began conducting Child Development Associate training in 1986, under a contract with DOES to train mothers on Welfare. In 1994, after a loss of DOES funding threatened to end the program, SCF won a contract with the Office of Early Child Development (now, the Early Care and Education Administration) to provide Child Development Associate preparation training (CDA) to child care practitioners, as a part of ECEA’s efforts to improve the quality of child care in the District. The training has been conducted twie a year, uninterrupted, since that time and has been available to all practitioners seeking to obtain an initial Credential, a second endorsement (age/environment setting) or a renewal. Certified by the DC Education Licensure Commission and the DC Early Care and Education Administration, Southeast Children’s Fund Professional Development Institute is the only non-college Child Development Associate (CDA) training provider in the District that can award Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to its students. The Program has been highly successful in helping candidates achieve their Credentials, training over 1,000 candidates with a 97 percent successful completion rate. SCF’s training contract with now-called Early Care and Education Administration was renewed in November 2007. SCF was contracted by the Early Childhood Leadership Institute at the University of the District of Columbia to provide Child Development Associate training at Ballou High School during the 2005/2006 School Year.

SCF has pursued programming that helps parents gain the skills they need to provide for their families and support their children’s development, youth to develop their social and education skills, and families to interact more positively. Programs have included social skills development, employment training, GED preparation, parent training, homework help and summer camp. In 2007, SCF established the Parents and Teachers Empowerment Network (P-TEN) to provide a forum for parents and teachers of young children attending Southeast Children’s Fund Child Development Center and its sister center, Sunshine Early Learning Center. Its emphasis is on increasing parents’ family leadership skills, involvement in their children’s education, and mutual support.

As a member of the 35-year-old Washington Association of Childcare Centers, SCF works with other child development centers in the area to improve the quality of childcare in the District by advocating for supportive policies and sharing resources and expertise.

SCF currently operates out of a 24,000 square foot facility and adjacent building that are accessible to persons with disabilities and to public transportation.

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

SCF successfully secured National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation for its Child Development Center in 2005.

The SCF/Professional Development Associate’s Child Development Associate training program has been successful in assisting the Early Care and Education Administration’s efforts to improve the quality of child care in the District of Columbia by increasing the knowledge and skills of child care practitioners. A study of Credential Awards in the District 2004-2006, conducted by UDC/Center for Applied Research and Urban Policy revealed that SCF/PDI produced more CDAs than the other three CDA training partners in ECEA’s CDA Training Subsidy Program, with 107 of the 166 CDA Credentials conferred during 2004-2005 awarded to students of SCF Professional Development Institute.

In 2001, SCF implemented a successful GED and family literacy program for TANF recipients with funding from the DHS/Income Maintenance Administration. SCF conducted a Rites of Passage program (an Afrocentric youth program) with 60 children and youth, ages 8 to18, to help them attain academic success, positive self-esteem, and the social skills necessary for coping with peer pressure.  In 2005, SCF partnered with DOES to provide employment training and job search assistance to 20 low-income parents and individuals with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. The project resulted in several persons gaining employment and five attaining their GED by the end of the project period.

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Organization and Management

SCF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is governed by an eight-person board of directors. The executive director, under the authority of the Board, carries out the day-to-day operations of the organization. Frances J. Rollins, who serves in this capacity, also directs the Professional Development Institute. The executive director has oversight over the entire organization and provides fiscal management for all programs and services. A separate director manages the Child Development Center, and program coordinators are hired as needed to manage the various grant programs and SCF initiatives. The Child Development Center maintains a teacher to child ratio of 1 to 3.5. A development coordinator assists with program development, administration and fundraising.

SCF’s executive director, Frances J. Rollins, has over 30 years of experience in child and adult education. She is an active member in a number of professional organizations including: the Ward 8 Business Council, the School-Age Childcare Alliance, the Anacostia Neighborhood Initiative, the NAEYC, the DCAEYC of which she is president, the Washington Association of Childcare Centers and the District of Columbia Childcare Providers Coalition. These organizations have brought her into contact with childcare providers and leaders across the District and nationally, as well as afforded her intimate knowledge of the laws, regulations and standards governing the industry.

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PARTNERS (PAST AND PRESENT)

DHS/Early Care and Education Administration

DHS/Income Maintenance Administration

District of Columbia Public Schools

National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

The Salvation Army

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

University of the District of Columbia, Early Childhood Leadership Institute

University of the District of Columbia Workforce Development Program

DC Department of Employment Services

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