Early Childhood Education
The first few years of life are critical for a child’s future achievement. Our early childhood education programs serve low-income children from prenatal to age 5 with programs that ensure they are developmentally on track—academically, socially, and emotionally—and empower parents to support their children’s development on their own. This holistic approach is the key to helping children start school academically ready to learn at the level of their peers and begin life socially and emotionally ready to grow and thrive.
Early Head Start
The Child Center of NY offers a nationally accredited Early Head Start program for children prenatal to age three. The program provides continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family support services to low-income infants, toddlers, pregnant women, and their families. Parenting education and the support of a positive parent-child relationship are integral to the program, as is a focus on supporting the whole child: their physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development. We collaborate with Northwell Health to enhance our health services. Our partnership with Strong Children Wellness provides primary care for our clients. We’ve embedded Early Childhood Mental Health Services within all of our Early Childhood programs.
Our services in Astoria, Corona, and Woodside are home-based, and we offer a center-based classroom for 2-year-olds at our Escalera Early Head Start in Manhattan. All programs are designed to meet each family’s individual needs. All of our Early Head Start programs are free to eligible children.
Head Start
Our Head Start centers provide low-income children ages 3 to 5 with a safe, stimulating environment that encourages cognitive, social, and emotional development. We emphasize hands-on, play-based learning that teaches children academic concepts in ways that make sense to them and get them excited about school.
We also support parents as primary caregivers so that they can encourage their children’s development on their own.
All of our sites serve breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. We instill healthy habits both by teaching about them in the classroom in hands-on activities — such as growing vegetables — and by offering food that’s cooked on the premises and exceeds nutritional requirements. We also support children’s physical health through a unique collaboration with Northwell Health, New York’s largest health care provider, and by offering in-person and virtual pediatric care through a partnership with Strong Children Wellness; and we offer mental health services through The Child Center’s Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative. In addition, our educators have special training in teaching dual-language
Centers in Corona and Manhattan operate Monday-Friday, full-day and year-round. We accept children through a variety of funding sources, including the NYC Department of Education, which encompasses Head Start and is supplemented with 3-K and Pre-K for All for All. Please see our latest Head Start annual report for more information about our Head Start programs. All of our Head Start programs are free for eligible children.
ParentChild+
The ParentChild + program (PC+) is a national, evidence-based literacy and parenting model. It provides parents with the knowledge and resources to build school readiness where it starts: the home. Extensive scientific research consistently has found that this model significantly improves parent-child interactions, increases school readiness and later school success, and reduces risks of child abuse and neglect—so much so that it has been recognized by the White House as an official Bright Spot in Hispanic Education. We are pleased to bring this nationally recognized program to families in Queens.
PC+ helps parents learn the best ways to bond with their children and give them the best start in life. A trained specialist visits the home and shows parents how they can help their toddler learn, grow, reach developmental milestones, and feel confident and safe. There is no cost for the program, and free books and toys are provided during the visits, along with guidance on using them. To get more of a sense of how we help families, please read LS’ Story, written by a parent in our program. ParentChild+ programs are available in Astoria, Corona, Far Rockaway, Jamaica, and Woodside.
Child Center Benefits Access
Our Benefits Access program provides free counseling on entitlements, health insurance, financial guidance, social services, and legal services. On-site health insurance and SNAP (“food stamp”) enrollment are available. These services are open to the community for people of all ages, with or without children.
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Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and some evenings; please call individual sites for details; virtual appointments are available.
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Services provided: Assistance in accessing entitlements, health insurance, and social services. Free on-site legal services; financial counseling, medical and SNAP (“food stamp”) enrollment, assistance in tax preparation. Referral to social services such as afterschool programs, child care, summer camp, unemployment / employment programs, GED/ESL.
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Special services: On-site health insurance and SNAP (formerly “food stamp”) enrollment, Medicaid, and other types of health insurance from NYSOH (New York State of Health), with direct linkage to the Human Resource Administration, enabling families to obtain their medical and/or food stamp benefits within a 30-day period.
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Languages spoken: English, Spanish. In addition, we can provide services to clients in any language through the use of an interpretation service.
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Locations: Jamaica and Flushing
