NASHUA, NH – Child Care Aware of New Hampshire, a Child Care Resource and Referral Program of Southern New Hampshire Services, has been selected as one of ten sites to join a national network of communities, states and organizations to activate Vroom, an initiative designed to help parents promote brain development in children birth to five years of age.
The announcement was made by Child Care Aware® of America. Vroom is an initiative of the Bezos Family Foundation.
Participating sites – part of Child Care Aware® of America’s nationwide Child Care Resource and Referral network – will use Vroom to bolster their work with families in innovative ways, reaching parents with brain building messages and nurturing parent-child interaction with new tools.
Child Care Aware® of New Hampshire will embed Vroom into existing services that include free child care referrals and consumer education on what to consider when selecting a child care program. Child Care Aware of New Hampshire also provides professional development training and technical assistance services to child care providers throughout the state. The program actively participates in various regional and statewide early childhood initiatives.
"It is essential that we provide families and providers with tools and resources that they can use to support children’s development,” said Tracy Pond, Child Care Aware of New Hampshire program manager. “Research has shown that the brain develops most rapidly during the first five years of life. As the most trusted child care resource in New Hampshire, we are thrilled to be able to provide families, child care providers and our community partners with additional information on how they can support children and their development through the use of Vroom. It’s a natural fit to our program."
Vroom provides interactive tools and resources that highlight the science behind early brain development, showing parents how they can turn activities like bath time and meal time into opportunities that build their children’s brains. This partnership is particularly exciting in its ability to facilitate a far-reaching culture shift—one that begins with parents understanding early brain development and extends into how families, providers, businesses, and communities all work to support brain development during the first five years of life. To learn more, visit joinvroom.org.
Other sites adopting Vroom are located in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida New York and Ohio.
For more information about these services, see Child Care Aware® of New Hampshire.