Smart Beginnings Danville Pittsylvania (SBDP) is pleased to announce Child Development Resources has increased its funding by more than $78,000. This increase allows for the local expansion of the VA Infant Toddler Specialist Network (VA ITSN) service area for Piedmont Southside. The expanded service area will include the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Brunswick, Campbell, Charlotte, Halifax, Henry, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nelson, Patrick, Pittsylvania and Prince Edward; and the cities of Bedford, Danville, Lynchburg and Martinsville.
This expansion will allow SBDP to add a second full time infant toddler specialist to its staff, additional classroom resources and training. Infant toddler specialists provide individual and group training for adults caring for children from birth to age 3.
The new specialist will work with stakeholders (infant toddler caregivers, teachers, directors and families) to provide three levels of service:
- quality improvement – provide on-site consultation for TA, mentoring, and support using a Quality Improvement Plan with infant and toddler programs most in need;
- quality enhancement – provide support to build programs’ capacity to improve and assure the continuing quality of their services to infants and toddlers;
- and quality assurance – make available to all programs by ensuring access to resources, email and telephone consultation, website support, audio-conferencing, and linkages to existing professional development opportunities.