Seymour-Oxford Nursery & Child Care Association Inc

Programs: Soncca's mission is to provide affordable before- and after- school-based programs in the public school systems for the school-age children and youth of working families in the communities of seymour and oxford, connecticut, located in new haven county, connecticut. Both towns are in the naugatuck river valley. The organization is an agency of the valley united way. Soncca has five programs licensed by the connecticut state department of public health for grades kindergarten through eighth grade. The locations are in shared space (cafeteria and/or gymnasiums) within public school buildings. The organization has been in existence since 1985. Soncca is a non-profit, 501(c) corporation, operated by a volunteer board of directors comprised of community leaders and parents of children in the program. Soncca also provides a full-day summer program. Each year over 400 children and youth are served in the various programs and locations. The before-school programs operate from 7:00 am until 9:00 am; the after-school programs operate from school dismissal (between 2:30 and 3:10 pm)and 6 pm. All programs are open on all days school is in session. An ongoing goal of the organization has been to maintain fees at the most affordable level so that parents will not be obliged to leave their school-age children home alone in the before and after school hours and will have peace of mind while working. At the same time, an ongoing goal is to provide a quality program with a warm, caring environment where all children and youth will be safe and parents will feel welcome. While soncca is not an academic program, the curriculum is designed to support and complement the school-day curriculum of the children and youth served. Three administrators support the programs: a part-time executive director,a part-time bookkeeper, and a part-time administrative assistant. Programs are staffed to achieve a one-to-ten ratio. Program staff total approximately 32 to 35 at any given time, depending on enrollment. Soncca has the following locations and current enrollment(): soncca-bungay elementary school (70), soncca- chatfield/lopresti elementary school (40),soncca- quaker farms ii elementary school (115), and soncca-quaker farms i elementary school (31). The 2016 summer program enrollment was 142 children and youth. Soncca annually utilizes the national afterschool associations's program improvement manual's observation measurement tool to assess programs and ensure continuous program improvement. A database is maintained of family and child information to comply with state regulations. These same data are utilized for measurement purposes. Annual family assessments are conducted to measure program approval. In addition, an exit survey is conducted when any child is withdrawn from the program. The stategies soncca utilizes to support program goals include: recruiting members of the community to its board of directors; building relationships with community members, school members, and families; developing resources to defray program costs; recruiting the most capable staff members; offering extensive staff training; and providing all supplies and equipment necessary to supporting quality programming.