Doodah's Center for Children

I have been purposed with opening an Early Childhood Education Center. This Center will be faith-based, nature-immersed, & serve families of every socioeconomic status, providing scholarships to as many as possible. I have been a nurse for nearly 18 years. For the last 5 years, I have worked as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. As part of this training, I learned about the Adverse Childhood Experiences research (Felitti et al., 1998).  This research demonstrates that with every occurrence of trauma (single-parent home, parental divorce, sexual/physical/emotional abuse and/or neglect, witness domestic violence, etc.) experienced in childhood, a person is increasingly more likely to have medical and social consequences as an adult. In my family, at the same time, some of these traumatic incidences were happening with my nephew. It was the tragic, perfect storm as far as I am concerned. It is the most frustrating, anger-inducing, hopeless feeling to see a child suffer and the systems designed to protect them COMPLETELY fail. A silver-lining in the ACEs research is that they found that if a child has just ONE person in their life that supports, encourages, values them - shows them LOVE, the effects of these traumatic events can be reduced. (ACEs research should be mandatory training in year-one for every college freshman. It affects everyone in every profession!)

I want to be that ONE! I decided there was no better person to be that ONE for a child than a teacher. Every child is supposed to go to school, which requires the presence of a teacher. I had wanted to teach my whole life. I decided (at 40 years old) to return to school to become a teacher. I graduated this May with a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education. For many years, even prior to my learning of ACEs, I have dreamed about opening a school. I have had a name and location picked out for at least 7 years. It was just a dream. It was just a "if I had a school, this is how I would do it" thought. I have had confirmation from the Lord that this is what I am called to do. The location that I picked out 7 years ago was placed on the market for sale the same week that I moved, one block away. (This location has not been on the market in 50 years!) This space is perfect. It is downtown, easily accessible for the majority of the parental workforce in the area. The space is huge, providing ample space for growth as I (hope to) add grade-levels as my children age out to the next grade. This space can also be leased out in the meantime to provide some monthly income. There is a large outdoor green-space, which would be perfect for the nature-immersed curriculum that I want to provide for the children. (This amount of outdoor space is SO RARE downtown.) There is a small office space that ajoins the main building that I would like to lease to mental healthcare providers who could assist the children and their families at Doodah's. Mental health is so important and if I can introduce this service early in life, this will give the children a chance for a better start, providing them with coping strategies and a SECOND "ONE" support person in the child's life.

Turning to the financial aspect, my cost would almost entirely be the purchase of the property and renovating it to meet the well-defined requirements of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, DHR, and the nationally-recognized Alabama First Class Pre-K Program. This Program is well-funded, providing grants for the initial start-up of the Center as well as annual funding for everything from food and personnel to continuing education for staff. Early Childhood Centers in Alabama are well-supported by grant funds. There are opportunities for funding specific projects, like outdoor equipment for example, in our community from individuals and/or corporations. I have been purchasing supplies for years. I have accumulated a large library with almost 1,000 developmentally-appropriate books. I would also like to reach out to businesses in the community to sponsor different "play centers". For example, there are a couple of nationally-recognized designer fashion brands (yes, in this tiny town of Florence, AL) who I would love to offer the opportunity to sponsor the children's "dress-up center" at Doodah's. I could ask local home improvement stores to sponsor centers with tools and materials for the children to "engineer". Local realtors and other business owners could sponsor the "block center", "art center", and "outdoor garden" and STEM areas. I would also love to begin an annual festival, a Literacy Fair (similar to our local Renaissance Fair), that is held in Wilson Park downtown. I would invite drama departments from local high schools to perform scenes from classic children's literature. The local university (University of North Alabama) Education Department, Music Department, and Art Departments would be offered the opportunity to contribute to the festival as well. I would include characters in costumes representing popular characters in children's literature: Winnie the Pooh, Dr. Seuss, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, etc. The possibilities are endless. Local vendors would be allowed to set up booths for any literacy-related themes they choose. I could go on and on. This would be a typical small-town event with the goal of making reading COME ALIVE for children. I want them to know how they can use their beautiful imagination to make reading more than recognizing words. It is a magical gift that will change everything for them! The proceeds from this event would 100% be set aside for scholarships for Doodah's tuition and/or providing counseling services for children in the community who may not otherwise have access.

From a curricula standpoint, the focus will be PLAY, PLAY, PLAY. This is how children learn. Everything is new to them, so the curriculum is providing diverse materials and experiences and watching as they figure out the substance and function of everything around them. I have a wonderful mentor who was the teacher in the classroom where I served as a graduate assistant. She is working on her doctorate in Early Childhood Education and her focus is a nature-based kindergarten. She exposed me to a genre of teaching that I did not know existed. The immensity of what children can learn outdoors, even the physical act of just "being" outdoors is beneficial for them. My (academic) goal for my children, aside from my primary goal which is to ensure that every child feels loved and cared for, is to develop a curiosity in them and the ability to think critically. I believe that there is no greater, more useful skill than learning to question, investigate, develop hypothesis, try and fail...learning to process information and critically think about what has been observed. The children would spend the majority of the day outside. Their learning would be extended by any alterations that we would make to accomodate for weather and how to stay safe. The location that I hope to purchase is located within walking distance to many community staples like police and fire departments, public library, parks, the university, and very important in our community...the historic ice cream shop, Trowbridge's. It would be a goal of mine to make Doodah's a go-to spot for students at the University of North Alabama to practice their coursework, volunteer, or even serve as a place for them to work as they attend college. The Early Childhood Education program there is one of the best in the state. I developed some great relationships with experienced, passionate professors while I was there. I hope for many of them to serve on an advisory board for Doodah's. There will be constant academic, financial, and safety oversight from not only the State Coach assigned by the ADECE First Class Pre-K Program who makes regularly scheduled visits, but by parents and members of the community, as well.  I have reached out to Directors of other Early Childhood Education Centers in the area as a source of guidance on the process of opening Doodah's. There is a wealth of knowledge in the community and a great deal of support.

The Florence area is growing. The local hospital and university are the largest employers. Both are located within minutes of the location that I am hoping to acquire (with your help). Most Centers in the area have waiting lists with families seeking spots for their children. I would begin with services for children ages birth to 3 and Pre-K. As I mentioned before, I would love to grow the Center, adding grade-levels as the children age. For example, as the younger children in Pre-K progress to Kindergarten, I would like to add a Kindergarten. As those children move on to first grade, a first grade class would be added, and so on through  early elementary school. I would provide children from birth up to 2nd grade (eventually) with an educational experience that is unique in the community and designed precisely for their developmental, mental, physical, and emotional needs.