Brown County schools will receive a $500,000 grant, announced on Tuesday, to expand child care and early education services for infants and toddlers. This initiative will also benefit high school students, allowing them to earn dual credit through the district’s early childhood education (ECE) program.
Deborah Harman, director of student support services at Brown County Schools (BCS), shared this news during a school board meeting. She noted that this grant is the first of its kind for licensed child care in the county. It comes from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Early Years Initiative, which aims to enhance early care and education for young children.
“This grant will help us expand our early care and education options for infants and toddlers,” Harman explained. Currently, the district offers a preschool class and an older toddler class. With the new funding, BCS will add 10 toddler seats and eight infant seats, allowing the Early Education Center in Nashville to serve children from birth to age five.
The program will be open to all community members, with an estimated daily care cost of $27 per child.
In addition to the new services, the Early Education Center, located at 235 School House Lane, will be renovated to include an infant room, a second toddler room, a laundry area, a health room, and a family education space.
BCS highlighted that this facility will be unique in Brown County and within the Indiana Uplands Region, particularly because it connects high school students with dual-credit coursework. The region encompasses Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen, and Washington counties.
“We believe the ECE Program at Brown County High School, located at our Early Education Center, will create a vital pathway for graduating credentialed early educators,” BCS stated in a press release. This program aims to meet the community’s needs and provide qualified educators for local hiring within the Indiana Uplands Region.
Related Topics: