Urban League of Hudson County

Grow NJ Kids

Enrolling in Grow NJ Kids

To enroll in Grow NJ Kids you must first join the NJ Registry

NJCCIS Registry

Thriving by Three Infant and Toddler Child Care Grant

Grow NJ Kids is a state-sponsored initiative to raise the quality of child care and early learning throughout New Jersey. This quality rating and improvement system gives child care and early learning programs resources to assess and improve their programs while providing parents with information that allows them to evaluate the quality of programs and make the best choices for their child. The goal is to create a system that encourages ongoing improvement.

For more information, please contact our Quality Improvement Specialist (QIS) Shannette Taylor (staylor@ulohc.org) 201-451- 8888 x178

Infant Toddler Specialist Network

The Infant and Toddler Specialist Network (ITSN) uses a multi-layered technical assistance approach to efficiently support progressive movement through the framework of the ITSN. When working with an Infant and Toddler Specialist (ITS), you can expect to be involved in a collaborative process between the provider and ITS. The technical assistance, training, and all work related to improving your program are tailored to your specific needs.

For more information, please contact our Infant Toddler Specialist (ITS) Sharon Wise (swise@ulohc.org) 201-451-8888 x 209

Family Engagement

Our Family Engagement Specialist (FES) works closely with families to share various resources and connectsthem to their local community supports:

The FES will help families locate a quality child care program that meets their needs.
We partner with peer agencies to host SFI Parent Cafes`. Positive Solution sessions and Books, Balls and Blocks Events where parents can engage with their children and observe them at play through various activities. Parents can complete free childdevelopment screenings that can help track their child’s developmental milestones.
We invite families to participate in Parent Cafés which give them an opportunity to connect with eachother, share experiences and resources, and to support and listen to other families with similarsuccesses and challenges.

For more information, please contact our Family Engagement Specialist (FES) Bernadette Meggett (bmeggett@ulohc.org) 201-451-8888 x 121

Shared Service Alliance

The Shared Service Alliance is a network of early care and education providers who work together to share information, cost saving strategies and program resources. The goal of this state-sponsored initiative is to improve operational stability and service quality for child care centers in Hudson County. Alliance members work with our Shared Services Coordinator to provide business, professional development, and staffing support services to strengthen program quality and sustainability. Members have opportunities to collaborate regularly, and to share concerns, successes, and ideas for future program improvements.

For more information, please contact our Shared Service Coordinator (SSC) Qien Porter (qporter@ulohc.org) 201-451-8888 x114

Professional Development

Professional Development Training Calendar and other trainings:The Department’s Training Calendar offers a wide range of workshops in child development, curriculum planning, developmentally appropriate practices, administrative procedure, health and safety, inclusion and more.(click here for our training calendar)

CDA – (Child Development Associate (Training)

Zero to Three Growing The Brain 7 units (Training)

Virtual Lunch & Learn / Naptime (Training)

Lead Trainer (LT) Doris Ervin (dervin@ulohc.org) 201-451-8888 x194

Targeted Training Series:Our Quality Initiatives staff work together to offer a variety of Division of Family Development supported training series throughout the year. These modules focus on specific areas of child development, your program and family support.Click on a series below for additional information and descriptions:

The Growing Brain

The greatest rate of brain growth and development occurs during the first few years of life. This rapid development takes place during the same time a child is making critical connections with his or her outside world. This also happens to be the same time that you, the early childhood provider, have the most impact on the child. Did you know that because of such rapid brain growth in the first few years, the child’s early experiences have an excessively greater influence on the child’s brain development? This 7-part series explores the structure and function of the brain; factors and experiences that influence the brains’ growth and development; and the connections between the brain, language development and sensory functioning. If you’ve ever wondered about what’s going on in the mind of a child, this series is right for you.

Birth to Three Early Learning Standards

a common framework for understanding and communicating developmentally appropriate expectations for infants and toddlers. It is based on research about what young children should know and do in different domains of learning and development. Each of the five domains (social/emotional, approaches to learning, language/communication, cognitive development and physical/motor development) is related to and influences the others. This 5-session series explores each domain in depth in hopes to provide those working with the 0-3 population that common framework, so that they can promote healthy child development and high-quality care in early childhood.

Dual Language Learners and Building Cultural Responsiveness

This complete series is a 6-hour workshop that is designed to provide teachers and caregivers with methods for supporting dual language learners and their families, as well as strategies for accommodating and promoting cultural diversity in the classroom. Participants will use what they learn throughout the training to either create or update an action plan for their programs.

Strengthening Business Practices

This series addresses basic concepts in the fiscal and operational management of running a child care program. These trainings are grounded in the belief that strong and sustainable child care businesses can support program initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for children. It was created to strengthen child care programs’ foundational knowledge of fiscal terms, concepts and practices. It also encourages providers to realize the importance of fiscal planning and provides tips and best practices to help break down fiscal processes into manageable steps. The series is broken up into 4 modules: Modules 1 and 2 must be completed and are a pre-requisite for the optional Modules of 3 and 4.

Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework

is a research-informed, strengths-based approach that prevents child abuse and neglect by focusing on the well-being of all families and helping families identify and build on their own protective factors. Each of the protective factors is essential, but most important is what they do together to build strength and stability in families. Strengthening Families is implemented through a series of “small but significant changes” to daily practice, rather than large-scale program modifications.

The five Strengthening Families protective factors were chosen based on extensive research about children and families. These are not the only protective factors that keep families strong. They were selected because they can be built through interaction with the people and systems that families encounter in their day-to-day lives.

In Strengthening Families, all families are included, because all families need some support in building the following protective factors:

Parental Resilience – The ability to recover from difficult life experiences, and often to be strengthened by and even transformed by those experiences.
Social Connections – Positive relationships that provide emotional, informational, instrumental and spiritual support.
Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development – Understanding child development and parenting strategies that support physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development.
Concrete Support in Times of Need – Access to concrete support and services that address a family’s needs and help minimize stress caused by challenges.
Social and Emotional Competence of Children – Family and child interactions that help children develop the ability to communicate clearly, recognize and regulate their emotions, and establish and maintain relationships.

Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Trainings:In New Jersey, all child care and early learning programs that accept, or wish to accept, child care subsidies must comply with the requirements set forth by Child Care Development Block Grant Reauthorization (CCDBG). This includes completing the CCDBG-required trainings. These trainings are required for all licensed or registered programs including center-based programs, home-based programs and summer youth camps. For additional information, please go to http://www.childcarenj.gov/Providers/Training

Quality Manager (QM) Gail Payne (gpayne@ulohc.org) 201-451-8888 x122

Jan 06 2015

Child Care