Sponsor Spotlight: Kelly Rodriguez with 4-C Community Coordinated Child Care

4-C is constantly working to identify needs and fill the gaps within early childhood education in their communities. Recently, 4-C recognized that there was a lack of child care in a rural community in their area. As a result, they are in the process of starting their own child care center in that area to help those families access child care.

 

“It’s in a more rural area that doesn’t really have the child care services and there was definitely a need there. So, we’re really excited to fill that need and open the child care there.”

 

With the creation of the child care center, Kelly is looking to expand their CACFP sponsorship into the center space as well. During her time with 4-C, Kelly has also had many child care centers contact her asking to join the program, and she had to turn them away. Even before 4-C’s plan to start their own center, Kelly had wanted to grow their sponsorship, so that they could provide CACFP access for the centers that had contacted her.

Just as the organization is devoted to families and early childhood education, Kelly is devoted to the providers they sponsor for the CACFP. Kelly dedicates as much time as needed for each provider. Coming from a background of early childhood herself, Kelly lends understanding and patience to her work with providers. She ensures that enough time is dedicated to onboarding and teaching each provider about the CACFP and provides ongoing technical assistance to ensure her providers’ success.

 

“I think that we really work with our providers. We take the time to get to know them. We take the time to make sure that they are aware of everything about the program so that they can be successful in it. So, we really take that time to teach them everything about it.”

 

Kelly recognizes that the success of 4-C as a CACFP sponsor is largely attributed to the success of their providers as operators of the program. As a result, Kelly focuses on teaching providers about the program requirements, keeping them up to date on new policies and ensuring they fully understand what is expected of them. She also makes sure her providers know that she and her staff are there as a support system and can be contacted at any time and with any questions.

All of the work Kelly does is to ensure the end goal of the program is achieved: that children receive nourishing meals while in care. Kelly believes the main benefit of the program is children’s access to healthy meals that they may not have access to outside of child care. She also recognizes that without the reimbursement, providers may not have the budget to provide the number of meals/snacks that are able to through the CACFP.

 

“I think it benefits them a lot. The kids are receiving healtheir meals, and probably more meals, than they would if the providers didn’t have . It helps with all sorts of things like behavioral issues, growth, nutrition, and it helps them form those healthy habits for later in life.”

 

This is what drives Kelly to continue working in the CACFP space. She is excited to see 4-C’s child care center open and enthusiastic about expanding their sponsorship into that space as well. Kelly looks forward to seeing both of these goals achieved.