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Circle of Friends honored with award

Staff reports

Published: June 23, 2009

RUTHERFORD COLLEGE - Circle of Friends in Rutherford College was honored Friday for its outstanding support of staff education and professional development.
At Child Care Services Association's Annual Awards Celebration & Auction, the North Carolina Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development and the NC Division of Child Development along with CCSA will recognize Circle of Friends as one of nine child care centers and family child care homes from throughout the state to be awarded the 2009 Professional Development Award.
Circle of Friends is part of Blue Ridge Community Actionc and serves Head Start/More at Four children in the eastern part of Burke County.
The center currently provides care for 56 children, ages 8 months to 5 years.
The Professional Development Awards recognize exemplary early care and education programs that value and promote teacher education.
This year, four- and five-star child care programs that earned high points for teacher education on their rated license on or before Dec. 31, 2008, were eligible to apply.
Winners will receive a prize of $500 to $3,500, which can be used to help off-set the financial costs of supporting teacher education, provide an incentive or bonus reward for staff members who have completed coursework in early childhood education, or support the costs associated with other professional development opportunities.
In addition to the Professional Development Awards, the James and Carolyn Hunt Early Childhood Award will be presented to Roslyn Savitt, lobbyist and public policy consultant for the North Carolina Child Care Coalition, in recognition of the significant impact her work has had on the children of North Carolina.
Prior to the awards ceremony, CCSA will host its annual auction to raise money to support its work to improve the quality of early care and education being provided in North Carolina.
Founded in 1974, CCSA is a nationally recognized nonprofit working to ensure affordable, accessible, high-quality child care for all children and families.
The organization accomplishes its mission through direct services, research and advocacy.
CCSA provides a nutrition program for children in child care settings, free referral services to families seeking child care and quality improvement assistance to child care businesses. CCSA's T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Project provides educational scholarships to early childhood educators across North Carolina and is licensed in 20 other states.
The Child Care WAGE$ Project provides salary supplements to child care providers throughout the state and is licensed in three other states.

Visit www.childcareservices.org.