EARLY LEARNING COALITION OF FLORIDAS HEARTLAND INC

Anne Bouhebent began her career in early childhood education as a preschool teacher in 1990. This eventually led to serving as a child care center director and adjunct instructor for local community colleges. Her work moved to the non-profit sector in 1997 with a Child Care Resource and Referral agency in Los Angeles, CA. Her role was to provide training and technical assistance to family child care providers who were contracted to care for children receiving child care subsidies. After moving to Fresno, CA in 2001, she was employed by First 5 Fresno County- an agency which administered public funds for innovative early care and education programs including home visitation, center based child care, faith based child care, program assessment and child screening. During this time, she also completed her Master of Arts Degree with focus on Early Childhood Education at California State Univerity, Fresno. She was hired as the Executive Director of the Early Learning Coalition of Florida's Heartland, Inc. in November, 2006. In her time of service to the ELCFH she has focused on the need for high quality child care services for children, assuring children's personal rights are understood and honored, and building a transparent and fiscally responsible non-profit organization.

The Early Learning Coalition of Florida's Heartland Inc. provides financial assistance for child care for low income and at-risk families in Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee and Highlands Counties. The children we serve are in need of child care services while their parents work or attend school, or have a referral from a partner agency mandating the need for child care. The child care service is provided through local child care providers who qualify to contract with the ELCFH By contracting with the ELCFH, child care providers agree to provide a high quality early care and education program to children. This directly aligns with the mission of the ELCFH Board of Directors which is to support families and children in accessing high quality early care and education services via SR and VPK Programs. The vision of the ELCFH is that each child will have a strong early foundation to ensure a lifetime of success. ELCFH staff supports both the mission and vision of the Board through comprehensive work with child care providers and parents. We strive to provide top notch information through training, technical assistance, and written materials to support the developing child. Currently the ELCFH is serving 1,542 children who are identified as low income, TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients or are at-risk for child abuse or neglect. The need for high qualitychild care is great for these children, and research findings show communities that investing in young children now, saves on tax dollars later. The HighScope Perry Preschool longitudinal study found that children with adverse issues early on in life who attended high quality early care and education programs generally did better as adults. In this study, low income participants attended a high quality preschool program and then followed through adulthood. At the age of 40, they were found to be more likely to have graduated from high school, have a savings account, and own a home. Additionally, they were less likely to have needed remedial education or to have been arrested.It is estimated that for every dollar spent on high quality early care and education programs for our most vulnerable children,taxpayers realize a later savings of $7.16 (Schweinhart, 2002). The dollars received by the ELCFH for child care services and programs is directly utilized towards the 6% community match requirement. These dollars are spent on child care services or designated programs and assure that local child care providers are reimbursed for 100% of the service they provide.