Why choose Us?

Mealtime

Proper nutrition plays a crucial role in our wholistic approach to helping children learn, grow, and thrive within our programs. We understand that in order for children to fully benefit from our educational programs, their basic needs must be met first.  Fun Fact: 380,622 free meals were served to our students in 2024!

Free Meals For ALL Students

With support from the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), we ensure that every child receives a nutritious breakfast, lunch and snack each day at no additional cost to their families. This includes formula and baby food for our youngest learners!

Allergies & Dietary Preferences

Each of our centers are equipped with expansive kitchens that we use to store healthy ingredients and prepare nutritious meals each day. Our food service staff members also ensure that we accommodate ingredient alternatives for children with food allergies and honor dietary preferences.

Keeping Meals Nutritious

– Breakfast consists of a serving of milk, a fruit or vegetable, and grains or bread.
– Lunch and dinner require milk, grains or bread, meat or meat alternate, and two different servings of fruits or vegetables.
– Snacks include two different servings of the four components: milk, fruits or vegetables, grains or bread or meat or meat alternate.

Making Mealtime Educational

Beyond providing healthy meals, we also view each mealtime as an excellent opportunity to foster important life skills. As our food service staff deliver warm meals to each classroom, teachers and children gather around the table to enjoy them family-style as they practice table manners and adopt healthy eating habits. Students also start to learn proper handwashing habits before mealtime. After every meal, children’s teeth are brushed while in our care.

Nursing Accommodations

Our nurturers are happy to work with families who are nursing and prefer to send milk for their children while in our care.

“As soon as I enrolled my daughter at CDC, I felt the difference. They make sure every ingredient is safe for her and accommodate her needs. . . it’s such a relief to know she is safe and I don’t have to worry.”

Overall Health

Vaccines

All students are required to receive their Primary Immunizations. Staff are also required to be vaccinated to keep our young learners safe. This does not include the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nap Times

Children in our care receive an hour of nap time each day until they are 4 years of age. During this time, soothing music plays and the lights are off. Children who can’t sleep are encouraged to do quiet time activities like independent reading or an activity with staff to prevent disruptions. Families are also encouraged to bring a blanket to the center for use during nap time, center’s provide a cot and pillow.

Playgrounds

Each of our centers features playgrounds designed specifically for your child’s age group. Surrounded by privacy fences, these spaces offer a safe, welcoming place where children can play, make new friends and discover the world around them. The soft, durable turf provides a cushioned surface—perfect for stain and worry-free fun! Playgrounds also include water stations to keep our students refreshed and hydrated, along with plenty of fun, age-appropriate toys to keep the learning going—even outdoors!

As much as we’d love recess to always be outdoors, sometimes the weather has other plans! On those rainy or chilly days, our students still get plenty of exercise and playtime in our spacious indoor gyms. Packed with mats, toys, and engaging activities, these gyms ensure our students stay active while having fun!

Potty Training

We believe in partnering with parents in every aspect of each child’s growth and development, including potty training! Our nurturing teachers work with each family to create effective potty-training routines that work – both in our care and at home. We love celebrating each child’s progress! As we design each of our centers from a child’s perspective, all of our toddler and preschool classrooms have access to their own age-appropriate restrooms. This allows our young learners to build confidence and feel more comfortable during the potty-training process as they can safely reach our toilets and sinks!

Safe Environment

CDC operates clean and healthy facilities, actively supervises children, and regularly reviews safety procedures and protocols while prioritizing best practices and standard regulations. As CDC remains dedicated to providing secure environments across its centers, it offers peace of mind to each family it serves. 

Security

All centers remain locked and require all visitors and staff to sign in using the ProCare kiosk or being buzzed in by a member of our center’s leadership team. Each classroom is also equipped with cameras allowing the Center Director and leadership team to monitor classrooms for high-quality practices.

Staff Background Checks

Prior to being hired, all employees received and passed the following:

• National Sex Offender Registry Background Check
• PA State Criminal Background Check
• PA Child Abuse Clearance
• FBI Clearance

Staff Training

Employees are trained in CPR, AED usage, and EpiPen administration.

Sanitation & Safe Toys

Toys and bins are routinely checked and sanitized in all classrooms daily. Broken items are promptly removed.

Emergency Preparedness

Each school year, all age groups participate in multiple center fire drills to help teach children and staff about how to be prepared. In addition, local services often volunteer in our classrooms to teach fire safety to students.

“My daughter absolutely loves her teacher! She is excited to get up and go to school every morning and excited to tell me about all the things that she enjoyed during the school day. . . I feel so at peace knowing that I am sending my daughter into a classroom where she feels welcomed, wanted and loved.”

Transportation

Availability

Bus transportation to specific locations is available exclusively for students enrolled in our Head Start program who live within a specified distance from the center.

Inclement Weather Policy

When streets may get dangerous, we try to accommodate our families the best we can by remaining open throughout the winter season. During inclement weather, our classrooms will continue to be staffed to accommodate children during our normal hours of operation unless in several cases. During these times, transportation may not be available. To see if your center will have a change in its bus schedule, please listen to your local media stations for school district delays and cancellation updates, as this will only affect your child’s transportation schedule.

– If the local schools have a 2-hour delay or cancellation due to inclement weather, transportation will NOT be provided in the morning.
However, if parents/guardians are able to bring their children to the center on days where there is only a 2-hour delay, CDC will transport them home at the end of the day.

– Transportation will not be available in the morning or afternoon when schools are closed.

If we do need to close a center due to weather, you will be notified through the ProCare app.

Nurturing Environment

We aspire to cultivate a sense of empowerment, allowing students to be themselves. Our goal is to have each student feel valued and connected within our community of children, families, and staff. It’s the sense that every individual — whether it be a child, teacher, or parent — has a meaningful role here where they are recognized and appreciated for who they are.

Fostering this is essential as it creates a supportive, nurturing environment where children feel safe to grow and learn who they are. When children and staff feel a strong sense of belonging, it builds trust, promotes emotional well-being, and encourages positive relationships. This sense of connection helps our entire community thrive together.

“I love how everything is really hands-on and I feel the classrooms are the perfect size. I also really appreciate how my child’s teacher is in contact with me and we always work together to figure out a problem. Everyone is so kind and courteous.“

Classrooms & Ratios

All Classrooms

Our spacious classrooms are filled with engaging activities, vibrant artwork, and plenty of room for little learners to develop an early love for learning. Each room has large windows to allow lots of natural light in. We carefully manage noise levels to create a calm atmosphere, using soothing music intentionally during rest times or specific learning activities for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

Infant Classrooms

In our infant classrooms, we ensure a clean, safe, and nurturing environment. Each of these rooms are equipped with cribs along with rocking chairs for staff and children to be comfortable during interactions.

Our classrooms are thoughtfully organized to keep spaces clear and prevent clutter, ensuring safe movement and full visibility at all times. Floor mobiles and fully stocked toy bins allow infants to freely explore and develop motor skills.

All staff and all visitors are required to either remove their shoes or wear dedicated classroom-only shoes when in these rooms. This helps us keep our floors clean and safe, providing a secure and healthy environment for our youngest learners as they explore, crawl, and play.

Toddler Classrooms

Toddler classrooms are carefully curated with age appropriate activities and toys that engage fine motor skills and encourage a natural curiosity for learning. Colorful and educational imagery is constantly displayed following our creative curriculum plan while staff encourage learning activities like reading, drawing, and hands-on play.

Preschool Classrooms

As our preschool children are preparing for kindergarten, our preschool classrooms feature important developmental activities that help children feel more confident in their learning skills. With a balanced schedule of physical activity and engaging learning activities, preschool children practice a daily routine and schedule that prepares them for their future in kindergarten.

School Age Classrooms

Our school age classrooms are filled with craft supplies, educational activities, board games, and more. These resources have been thoughtfully selected to make every student’s experience not only educational but also fun! There is also room for students to work with staff on homework.

Equitable Access

As we strive to remove financial barriers many families face when seeking quality childcare, children are invited to enroll into our programs through a variety of funding streams that best suit their family’s socioeconomic status. Our federally funded Head Start and state-funded HSSAP and Pre-K Counts programs are intended for income-eligible families, while we also offer tuition-based care for families that do not qualify for these free programs.

We are also recognized as a licensed provider through the Early Learning Resource Center, which enables us to partner with the state in providing financial assistance to working families seeking quality childcare.

Regardless of each family’s unique funding eligibility, every child receives an exceptional learning experience that sets them up for success early on in life.

Curriculums

With 90% of brain growth happening before kindergarten, every moment matters. That’s why our programs are thoughtfully designed to spark curiosity, support healthy development, and nurture a love of learning that lasts a lifetime. CDC confidently promises a superior learning environment for each child through its implementation of a rigorous, research-based curriculum. In demanding an advanced level of curriculum fidelity, delivering an array of innovative school readiness resources, and analyzing benchmark data for growth, CDC creates an exemplary environment for student success.

For our infant, toddler and preschool programs, we utilize the leading research-based Creative Curriculum from Teaching Strategies, which has been nationally trusted for decades to set children up for lifelong success. Designed to empower teachers to individualize learning at every level of development, this curriculum builds powerful family partnerships and creates joyful learning experiences for every child. Our teachers use this curriculum to incorporate meaningful learning activities into daily routines, keeping families informed and involved in every step of growth and development.

Our nurturing teachers paired with our research-based Creative Curriculum fosters confidence in the classroom, appreciation of diverse perspectives, and a lifelong love for learning. The Creative Curriculum specifically focuses on reading, math, social and school readiness skills, following directions and getting along with fellow students and teachers. Our whole-child approach tailors learning activities to each child’s unique strengths, interests and specific needs, ensuring that each young learner receives the support they need to thrive and flourish.

In our elementary school-age programs, we purchase and utilize Second Step curriculum to ensure children are safe, supported and eager to learn both before and after school in our extended care and summer programs. Specifically designed to foster strong social-emotional skills, this curriculum equips our educators with the knowledge and necessary resources to help children gain confidence, set goals, make good decisions and collaborate with others in work and play. This curriculum not only makes learning fun for children in grades K-6, but encourages ongoing curiosity and interest in school, ultimately setting them up to be thoughtful and productive adults later in life.

“Every teacher that is with my daughter makes her feel so loved. She always has a fantastic day. She loves school so much and it is truly amazing how much she is learning each and every day.”

Kindergarten Readiness

At age three, children transition to our preschool program, which is designed to promote school readiness as we provide an early educational boost that will help them make a successful transition to kindergarten. Our nurturing teachers paired with our research-based Creative Curriculum fosters confidence in the classroom, appreciation of a variety of perspectives and a lifelong love for learning.

This Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) chart reflects fall, winter and spring checkpoint data across Erie, Crawford and Venango counties. Each section is ranked from 0 to the highest possible score of 4.

Educated Staff

Education builds confidence! To equip our staff with the skills they need to thrive in their roles, we provide several trainings and supportive mentorship. We also host annual in-person trainings for staff in each program to ensure universal knowledge and implementation of best practices across our facilities.

“Even with a teaching degree, I am learning new approaches to working with children. I appreciate the training that CDC offers!”

Fixed Schedule

Full-Day Care

Due to the rising costs of overhead, we only provide care full-time (all day Monday through Friday) for all infant, toddler and preschool programs.

Flexible Care

Our summer camps are full day (Monday-Friday from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM): however, the only programs offering weekly schedules.

Bring the Class Home

ReadyRosie is a family engagement tool that provides meaningful activities for parents and caregivers to complete at home with their children that complement what they are learning in our classrooms. Each 2-minute activity is assigned by our teachers who are experts in making learning fun! This has dramatically supported our family engagement efforts as parents are raving about how ReadyRosie helps them connect with their child on a deeper level.

Families enjoy ReadyRosie throughout the school year, over summer break and can also access it long after graduating our preschool program as age-appropriate activities will be accessible on their account through third grade!

Accreditations

Keystone STARS

We participate in the Pennsylvania Keystone STARS program, which is the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. With our Millcreek Township School-Age program recently earning Star 4, we now hold this highest possible rating across all 20 locations!

Local Awards

Click here to see our awards!

Real Time Notes

Stay connected during the day—in real time with the ProCare Solutions app. Each of our programs allows our staff and families to communicate in real time.

In addition to sharing adorable photos with each child’s family, our teachers and staff in our youngest classrooms now use ProCare to track and communicate nap schedules, diaper changes and meals, while teachers in our preschool and school-age programs use this channel to capture exciting learning experiences happening in the classroom each day. 

“I love being able to connect with my son’s caregivers through the new app! The pictures and updates are wonderful. I was reluctant to send him so young but this app helps me feel closer to him while I’m at work and I can tell they love him there.”

Center Events

Each of our centers also encourages families to visit their child’s classroom to celebrate learning throughout the year. These exciting events allow parents to bond with their children and our teachers as they celebrate their child’s continued growth and development in our program. In addition to classroom celebrations, we have also launched a series of events designed to further promote family engagement, including:

– Welcome Days
– Donuts with Grownups
– Preschool Prom
– Fall Fest
– Carnival Day
– Water Day
– Fiesta with the Family
– Muffins with Moms
– Pizza with Dads

“Blessed to have such a caring and safe environment for my kids to attend for before/after care while I work during the school year. The kids actually want to go, they have enjoyed their friendships they have formed with the kids and staff.”

Join a Group

Parent Committee:  

Policy Council: allows for greater impact across the entire county.

Volunteer

Volunteering in our classrooms provides opportunities to impact the lives of young learners while giving back to your community. Whether it is building your resume or strengthening your bond with your child, we invite guests into our classes to teach real-world experiences and lend a helping hand that makes a difference in a child’s experience. Click here to learn more!

Family Engagement Specialists

Each child enrolled in our Head Start program is assigned to one of our compassionate Family Engagement Specialists, who serve as social workers to support not only the child, but each member of the household to promote a positive home environment. Our Family Engagement Specialists partner with families to set and reach goals each year that positively impact their family on an annual basis.

These compassionate professionals complete periodic home visits to gauge each family’s unique needs, connecting them to vital community resources, including primary and dental care, mental health support, housing assistance, GED completion, resume building and more!

“My daughter loves going to school. It has helped her a lot since she was a COVID kid and didn’t have much interaction with people or went places. She seemed to fit right in and loves going and loves her teachers. She does have a speech problem and the school is working hard with her and I have seen a lot of progress.”

Your Voice

Parents are invited to give feedback through surveys, family committees, or even direct chats with center leadership. Your experience matters here. We enjoy engaging with the families we serve and remain committed to listening and responding to their valuable feedback. Each year, we open an anonymous survey that all families are encouraged to complete. This feedback allows us to celebrate our organizational successes and to also address any necessary improvements across our service locations.

In our most recent survey, 898 families participated and rated CDC a 4.46 out of 5! This survey included two new sections to gauge each family’s experience with our transportation services and their sense of belonging at CDC. Parents and caregivers rated transportation an impressive 4.17 out of 5 and their sense of belonging a score of 4.49! We now offer an anonymous survey to our families all year round that can be found on your center’s page.