On August 18, 2023 at Lincoln South Rotary Club we heard from Quentin Brown, Executive Director of Educare Lincoln.
The mission of Educare:
Our mission is to help young children thrive socially, emotionally and academically through high-quality early childhood education, and in partnership with their families and the community. At Educare, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to be successful in school, and in life.
Quentin started by thanking us for sharing time with him. He explained that knowing the importance of early childhood development - and supporting it - is not only good for the centers, but for the entire community.
There are 25 Educare facilities around the United States. There are 4 in Nebraska - 2 in Omaha, 1 in Winnebago and the 1 in Lincoln. The Lincoln Educare is the most culturally diverse of them all.
At Educare they have four pillars:
Program
Place
Partnership
Platform
Educare is a research-based program that prepares young, at-risk children for school. They employ teachers - they have the same credentials as the teachers at LPS.Often people think only of daycare when they think of early childhood development. And, that is okay - daycare facilities have their place. By using teachers, they deliver a high quality education to better prepare them for kindergarten and their future success.
They also have family engagement specialists that help the entire family. Often families have stress such as homelessness or other financial challenges, domestic abuse, etc. The family engagement specialists can help the families capitalize on opportunities and remove barriers. They do not provide services but they can help get them connected and keep them safe.
Educare has specially designed quality space - a place that nurtures early learning. It shows a message about the importance of early childhood development. It is important to understand that 85% of the our development - becoming who we are - is done between 0 and 5.
Quentin stated that if we are going to change the world - improve lives - our best investment is in early childhood development. That investment will have the greatest impact in our communities and world.
In talking about partnership, Quentin mentioned the importance of LPS. They maintain the facility and the grounds. He then talked about financial partnerships. Educare gets 65$ of its funding from individual investors and grants but they are fortunate to also be affiliated with Buffet Early Childhood.
The final partnership he mentioned was UNL. He said that one of the ways they know that they are providing the best programs is through evaluation. There is a UNL team that is on site daily to review the program and practices. The question is "are your kids better prepared for Kindergarten and for life".
In talking about platform, Quentin mentioned one of the good things that came out of COVID was that they created a workforce development program. They started a new intern program and were able to develop staff. But, they did not keep it closed - they helped develop staff that would end up working at LPS or for other programs.
BIO from the Internet
Quentin Brown brings years of experience in youth-focused nonprofits. Since 2015, he has served as State Director of Communities in Schools of Virginia – the Virginia network of the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization. Quentin previously served in additional roles throughout the Communities In Schools (CIS) network, including Executive Director of CIS Hampton Roads, Program Director of CIS of Richmond, and Site Coordinator of CIS of Richmond. He has also been an adjunct faculty member at Tidewater Community College’s Norfolk Campus since 2014.
"During my career, I have come to realize that the amount of effort required in moving students toward life-long success is greatly impacted by the supports provided to them during ages 0 – 5. Student success is my passion, and Educare is a beacon of hope for students and families, a trainer of quality educators, and a proven model that demonstrates positive outcomes.”
-Quentin Brown
-Quentin Brown
Quentin has a Master’s in Public Administrations from Strayer University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administrations from Virginia Commonwealth University. Quentin recently relocated from Virginia to Nebraska to step into the leadership role at Educare Lincoln, and officially started in the Executive Director role in July 2019.