Center offers creative, faith-based program to nurture children
FINALIST: BEST CHILD CARE CENTER Child Development Center >>
The Gertrude Remmel United Methodist Child Development Center in Little Rock, voted a finalist in the Best Child Care Center category in 2023 Best of the Best voting, strives to develop the whole child with educational programs that enhance learning and foster creativity.
The organization opened decades ago as a means to serve the community and today cares for 300 children from ages 6 weeks to 12 years in daily, after-school and summertime educational programs.
“There is a real family atmosphere here,” said Latosha Miller, assistant coordinator. “We’ve watched a lot of our students here grow up because their parents brought them here as babies, and when they got old enough to go off to school, they stayed here through the age of 12 in our afterschool programs. One of the things I like best about working here is that family environment.”
The Child Development Center began as a ministry of First United Methodist Church, which originally designated part of its nursery area to serve about 75 children. With growth came the need for additional space, and after the church bought a former auto-parts store, planning to raze it for parking, concerned church members approached leadership with an alternate idea to build a day care center on the property. Leadership agreed, and in 1988, the new $2.5 million facility opened.
Over time, programs changed and faces changed as children grew up and moved on, but the fundamental philosophy of the Child Development Center has remained remarkably constant. Miller said the consistency of the staff has a lot to do with the stability of the curriculum.
“We have some teachers who have been here for 30 years and a whole bunch who have been here 20 years,” Miller said. “All of our teachers undergo additional training, and they are all CPR-certified as well. Our teachers are dedicated to what they do and the children they are responsible for.”
In addition to supervision, the after-school program also offers students homework help, as well as a full range of physical activities. The First Arts program exposes children to dance, music and theater in a way that allows their creativity to shine through.
“We offer our students a lot of choice and flexibility in [the center’s] programming,” Miller said. “We want every family to be able to experience new things, whether it’s a dance class or an art exhibit, and we make those possible through our creative, faith-based program.”