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The Children’s Campus Preschool and Childcare Center at Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg has received a federal grant to help student parents remain in college in order to achieve their educational goals.

The Department of Education’s “Child Care Access Means Parents in School” (CCAMPIS) grant will offer support to single and lower-income student parents—from registration to graduation—through campus-based child care services. The grant, which is approximately $80,000, will help student parents pay for childcare services for infant-toddlers and preschoolers at the Children’s Campus while they are enrolled at RVCC. In addition, the grant will provide academic and emotional support for these student parents with the hiring of a part-time CCAMPIS Coordinator, offering them much-needed assistance as they work to complete their degree or certificate program.

“The CCAMPIS grant reinforces RVCC’s efforts focusing on student success, especially addressing the challenges faced by lower-income, underserved, and first-generation college students. Quality, affordable childcare is especially important to these student parents who struggle to make ends meet while working and attending school. These challenges have been exacerbated during the pandemic, putting many families in even greater economic risk and forcing student parents to put their education plans on hold,” said Children’s Campus Director Cathy Griffin, MS Ed.

The CCAMPIS program aligns well with the College’s ongoing Access2Success and Guided Pathways initiatives. Access2Success is designed to close the equity gap that persists with underserved populations by eliminating barriers to student success both in and out of the classroom. Guided Pathways seeks to streamline a student's journey through college by providing structured choice, revamped support, and clear learning outcomes—ultimately helping more students achieve their college completion goals. The initiative helps students with goal-setting, creating and sticking to an academic plan, exploring careers, providing resources to eliminate any barriers, and tutoring.

RVCC’s Children’s Campus Preschool and Childcare Center offers preschool and childcare for children ages three months to five years. The Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 12 months a year. It is licensed by the State of New Jersey and complies with all state licensing regulations. Each classroom is staffed with a fulltime, certified early childhood or infant-toddler educator.

The Children’s Campus is meeting and exceeding the guidelines and policies for health and safety required by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) during the pandemic. The Center was awarded a $5,000 Health and Safety Grant by the NJ DCF to implement all of these requirements, as well as an $11,000 Stabilization Grant to cover extra staffing and learning materials required to meet these special standards.

For additional information about the CCAMPIS grant and the Children’s Campus, call 908-231-8807, email childcare@raritanval.edu, or visit www.raritanval.edu/childcare.

RVCC is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 28, 2021

Media contact: Donna Stolzer, 908-526-1200, ext. 8383

PR #35