Congratulations to Ms. Alma Martinez, licensed home child care provider of Quetzali Child Care, for receiving a Level 2 Gateways Early Childhood Credential!
Alma is also working toward her Level 2 Gateways Family Child Care Credential, which she looks forward to finalizing in May of this year.
The Early Childhood Credential is offered by Gateways to Opportunity and is recognized by the State of Illinois. The credential award comes through the Illinois Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child Care and Development. It is awarded based on education level, knowledge, skills, and experience in early childhood.
The Collaboration’s professional development team, Diana Rosenbrock and Penny Williams-Wolford, helped guide Alma through the Early Childhood Credential application process and will continue to work with her as she continues pursuing her Family Child Care Credential.
Alma will receive professional contribution credits for her volunteer time as a workshop monitor at the Collaboration’s upcoming Symposium. Fluent in Spanish, Alma plans to provide support to people attending the Symposium’s Spanish workshop. Her child care center, Quetzali, is a Spanish immersion program.
The Collaboration fosters a professional learning community to promote family child care providers’ engagement in state-supported quality improvement activities. We support the professional growth of child care providers and help parents know the skill level of their children’s caregivers.
Currently, more local family child care providers are in the review process to receive Gateways credentials. With the Collaboration’s continued support, Oak Park and River Forest families will benefit from continued improvement in the quality of services available to our youngest children.
To locate a family child care provider near you, search our Resource Directory.
The Collaboration celebrates Alma’s accomplishment!