Peachtree – Tri-County Community College has been experiencing all-time enrollment highs, though the on-campus childcare center has been suffering from a lack of families utilizing the service.
“We want families in our wonderful little community to get the message that subsidized child-care quality programs do not cost them more,” said Iris DeRosa, program director at the Tri-County Early Education and Preschool Center.
After 11 years of service, the non-profit, private center is out to provide quality, affordable child care to the public. The center has been nationally accredited for six years and consistently five-star rated since 2000 through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Designed for children from newborns to 5-year-olds, the Jarret/Oglesby Childcare Center can accommodate up to 44 children at a time.
The staff of nine teacher, assistants and students received the Early Childhood Professional Development Award for their willingness to continue training in their field.
The state and federally funded program has proven to be a valuable resource for western North Carolina families, but seats haven’t been steadily filled with students.
“There seems to be a misconception in our community at large that our program is solely intended to serve students,” she said.
The service is not just for students, but any parent in the western region of the state. Students who graduate from the college also are allowed to keep their children in the program after leaving school.
“Any type of child care is expensive, and the economy has taken a toll on parents as they lose jobs. We have an outstanding program, but we are up against parents thinking they can’t get or afford this quality of service,” she said.
DeRosa said through the grant-funded program, it would not cost parents more money to place their children in a five-star program versus a three-star program.
Deidra Bryson has had her daughter AnnaBelle Cook, 3, in the program for the last two years. Bryson first put her daughter in the center when she wasn’t a student at Tri-County Community College but recently enrolled to finish up two degrees. As a single mom working and going to school, she said the center is an integral part of her life.