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Redlands Christian Migrant Association, Inc./RCMA Whispering Pines Child Development Center/Children Services Advisory Committee Indian River County PROPOSAL NARRATIVE A. ORGANIZATION CAPABILITY (Entire Section A not to exceed one page. Box will exs�wu tvne: ) 1 . Provide the mission statement and vision of your organization. Redlands Christian Migrant Association, Inc. creates and fosters opportunities for the children of migrant and other low-income rural families to maximize the choices in their lives. RCMA will positively impact the lives of migrant farmworkers and rural poor families by providing quality child care, kindergarten readiness activities and family support services that empower parents to become leaders in their children' s education and in the Indian River County community. Through the development of these skills, RCMA families will have the opportunity to experience a better quality of life and their children will enter the public school system "ready to learn". 2. Provide a brief summary of your organization including areas of expertise, accomplishments, and population served. RCMA was created in 1965 specifically to address the problems of, and provide services to, Florida' s migrant farmworker children and their parents. Today RCMA is the largest organization directly operating child development centers in the state. We have been a Central Agency since 1974, a Migrant Head Start delegate agency since 1981 , a Head Start Grantee since 1991 and an Early Head Start Grantee since 1996. Over 78% of our centers are NAEYC accredited with several others currently in process. Our inclusion of children with disabilities, beginning with infants and toddlers, has been recognized as a model within our state. Our staffing is reflective of the ethnicity of the children served, and hiring from within the community has been our practice since 1968 . RCMA continues its emphasis on educating children and empowering families. We will grow within our loosely defined education area, seizing opportunities to do more and diversify if it is coming from the soul of the organization. We are a family driven, high-quality organization. From its original 75 children in Homestead Florida, RCMA has expanded to serving presently over 7,000 children annually in 76 centers and programs in rural areas of 20 Florida counties. In Indian River County, RCMA operates four child development centers that served a total of 431 children ages 6 weeks to 10 years last year. 4