Hot Springs Community Learning Center

A nonprofit organization in Hot Springs, NC
Offering quality childcare, nutrition, and educational support
Established:  May 2008

To address the great needs in this community for child care, nutrition, and education support, AND to have it actually be affordable, HSCLC created a non-profit organization that provides high quality Preschool, After School, and Summer Programs to area children ages 3 - 12. We work with each family individually to assess and address their financial needs versus their childcare needs. We are committed to creating a reasonable plan for every family that would like to participate in our programs through a creative community initiative.

To help keep our below county market rate costs low, HSCLC accesses its community in several ways:

Licensing & Subsity

We have earned state licensure which allows us to qualify for the receipt of partial payments for tuition with subsidy funds from the NC Department of Health and Human Services and Smart Start Partnerships for Children and Families, for families in need whose parents are either working or going to school full time. This process is set with strict industry standards holding centers to state licensing rules and regulations, staff licensure and continued education, and the maintenance of high quality materials and a stimulating environment. Currently, HSCLC has complied and earned a four star rating in the Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten Programs and a five star rating in our After School and Summer Camp Programs. However, currently there is a waiting list for new students to receive these funds.

Scholarship Program

Currently, Parent Fees make up just under 50% of the funding for our programs. Our goal is to eventually be able to provide 90% scholarship to those in need in exchange for volunteer services. In that endeavor, we have created the Community Booster Scholarship & Volunteer Program where community members, area churches, and businesses contribute a certain amount each month that is dispersed to the enrolled families in need. HSCLC itself also participates in this program, contributing over $1000 dollars each month in scholarship disbursements to our families in need. The Learning Center generates this money through donations, grants, and community type fund-raising events in which our families participate. The way HSCLC disperses these funds is through a Volunteer Task Credit schedule. All the tasks have a dollar value and (as performed) are credited on tuition statements to the participating families. These credits help make tuition more affordable while saving the Learning Center from paying for cleaning and maintenance services.

Budget & Quality Food

As we are a non-profit organization we are able to utilize Manna Food Bank to purchase much of our supplies and foods. This allows us to keep our food and supply costs down. Also, during our Summer Program we harvest fresh produce and herbs from our Children's Garden on site. Plus, several of our local (organic) farms donate CSA boxes that provide the best produce there is! We make delicious, nutritious snacks everyday (and one homemade hot lunch once per week) with high quality meats, cheeses, organic dairy products, whole grains, and fresh local organic produce.

Utilizing Our Elders

We are governed by a Board of Directors advised by a 15 person Advisory Board made up of retired teachers, principals, parents, clergymen, and businesspersons from a wide variety of relevant fields.

We have also prepared our Community Connections Program that provides one-to-one tutoring in
Mathematics, Reading, and Writing. This service is FREE to all After School Program children ages 5- 12. This really brings together our community elders and our youth. Also, as we are located in the same county owned building as the Senior Citizens Club of Hot Springs, we do a variety of activities together such as holiday singing, letter writing, story-telling, and craft projects.

Our Curriculum

Our professional staff are all community members pursuing higher education in the fields of Early Childhood and/or School Age Care and beyond. The entire curriculum at Hot Springs Community Learning Center is designed by the staff using developmentally appropriate practices. We come together each month to design fresh, creative group projects based on a central monthly theme that looks to build character and strengthen academic skills focusing on the five learning domains: language, cognition, aesthetic, physical, and social/emotional.

We follow a set of monthly themes each year, but the activities and experiences therein are created fresh at the weekly program team meetings based on the actual children in our groups. In addition to the input we receive from the children and their families, we use a variety of resources including concepts from the following:

Theories & Guidelines:

• Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence
• Foundations > Early Learning Standards for NC Preschoolers and Strategies for Guiding Their Success
• Differentiated Learning
• Constructivist Teaching
• Waldorf, Rudolph Steiner
• Reggio Emilia
• Montessori
• NC Standard Course of Study for Kindergarten

• NC Guide for the Early Years

Curriculum:

• High Scope
• Oak Meadow
• What Your Preschooler Grader Needs to Know (Core Knowledge Series)
• Weekly Reader
• National Geographic Kids

Further Direct Resources:

• Northeast Foundation for Children (The Responsive Classroom series)
• Publications from the NAEYC (YC Magazine)
• TYC Magazine
• Current college level textbooks from AB-Tech Early Childhood Associate Program and Western Carolina University Birth—Kindergarten Bachelor of Science Program / Early Childhood & Elementary Education.

This project currently serves 46 families and is seeded to grow. We are a young organization trying to get sturdy on our feet. It is our goal to become 100% internally funded so that all families who want and need our services may participate regardless of their income status. Please help us build our foundation and consider being a part of providing this quality Community Learning Center program of services to our areas youngest residents.