The Little Rams Early Childhood Project is a partnership of schools, childcare programs, parents, educators and business and local organization leaders. They have been meeting for over a year to collect data about the Gorham community and to develop the draft of a comprehensive plan to support children ages birth through age five. On October 5, the team updated the Gorham School Committee on their findings and next steps.
In their collection of information, they have found that there is lack of availability for early care options in Gorham. Their survey showed that 280 children from birth to age three, and 164 children ages four to five are currently being served by programs in the community. These numbers are a small portion of the 1200 children in those age groups within our community.
The Project surveyed childcare providers and parents and discovered that 63% of the programs report staff shortages, 67% of the parents report not enough access to programs and 75% of the parents spend $300 per week for childcare. Using the data that they have collected, they have drafted a plan to increase availability, access and affordability of childcare programs, to strengthen and support quality of childcare, intervention and educational services, to strengthen “child find” practices and direct services and to improve alignment of programs and transitions between them for families and children.
Using these four goals, they have drafted a plan with sets of objectives and actions. These actions include expanded access and affordability to childcare and educational resources for families of young children, supporting the early childhood workforce, establishing common professional development between schools and childcare workers, and increasing parent education programs and resources to support families. They also hope to redesign the provision of CDS Part B services and create at least two preschool programs within the school department to service the students with the highest need.
The next steps of the Little Rams Early Childhood Project will be to share the plan broadly throughout the community and to request that the Town of Gorham and the Gorham School System create a joint “task force” with the charge of actualizing this plan with key community partners at the table.