Our Center
Little Hearts Early Childhood Center takes care of our youngest learners, ages six weeks to six years. We have seven classrooms at Little Hearts - babies, wobblers, toddlers, twos, and three preschool classrooms. There are a total of 107 children enrolled at Little Hearts. Of those attending, 35 are children of Unit 40 employees. The center is open from 6:30am - 4:30pm daily to meet the unique child care needs of each family.
At Little Hearts, we lay the foundation of learning in all areas of learning including communication and language, social emotional development, gross and fine motor development, and cognitive growth. Effingham Unit 40 were pioneers in operating their own childcare center. To meet this vision, the district purchased Little Lambs Early Childhood Center and worked diligently to transition the operation to district ownership.
Little Hearts opened on July 1, 2023. It is the mission of Little Hearts Early Childhood Center to provide:
A warm, loving, and nurturing atmosphere, where children feel safe and loved,
Developmentally appropriate, high quality learning experiences, and
Individual instruction to meet the needs of the whole child for future success in school and life.
We are striving to provide quality care at an affordable rate to clients of Little Lambs Early Childhood Center, Unit 40 employees, and the community at large. Our goal is to maintain quality childcare for our children, give our staff and community members support in balancing parenthood and their jobs, provide competitive wages and benefits to our employees while decreasing the cost of childcare for our clients.
Our employees at Little Hearts received many added benefits that they did not have previously including paid sick leave, insurance options including medical, vision, and dental coverage, life insurance, and a retirement program.
For Unit 40 employees, one immediate advantage is that our employees may opt to have nine month care versus 12 month care, thus saving families from paying for childcare over the summer months, resulting in a savings of $2,000-$2,400 depending on the age of their child.
Although we allow our Unit 40 employees to opt for nine month care, the center is open 12 months, only closing for Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and the Fourth of July.
At Little Hearts, we are a self-funding organization. We work diligently to apply for grants to offset the costs of the center. We have acquired a Smart Start Transition grant, totaling $187,000. We have also received a Kobalt Trust Grant to fund our Technology for Tots initiative. This grant allowed us to buy new IPADs to use in our classrooms. We have also received the state’s Preschool for All Grant which will completely fund two of our preschool classrooms beginning April 1, 2024. The classrooms recently received the white glove treatment, receiving all new toys, curricula, and instructional pieces. Many new furniture pieces were added as part of the classroom overhaul. The grant will also fund two certified teaching positions, two paraprofessionals, lunch and snack, classroom materials, professional development, 4 Chrome books, and additional support for the classrooms. In December 2023, those classrooms began their transition to Preschool for All Classrooms so that the staff could be properly informed, trained and prepared for effective implementation in April 2024.
Little Hearts is currently recognized with the Gold Circle of Quality which is the highest level of recognition and will lead to increased funding. In preparation for these evaluations, the center has been working with staff on professional development and improved classroom practices. Continued professional development and employee growth is a goal of the center. Currently, eight different employees are pursuing degrees in early childhood. We have worked with each employee to obtain a scholarship to cover all expenses of higher education. All employees have been trained in all required DCFS and ExceleRate trainings resulting in 30 additional hours of annual trainings.
The Little Hearts organization is composed of very caring individuals who have been very patient and supportive as we have worked through transitions this year. They have embraced the changes and have remained committed to serving our littlest learners. They are an incredibly collaborative, flexible group of individuals who are very appreciated. We are extremely excited to work throughout 2024 to improve our quality of care and programming offered at Little Hearts Early Childhood Center. While we have made drastic gains in the last six months, we know that the next year will hold even more opportunities for our staff, parents, and children.