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Dear Families, Students, Staff and Friends of RGC,

Since 1982, the Rita Gold Early Childhood Center (formerly the Center for Infants and Parents), has provided high quality early care and education for children of families affiliated with Teachers College and Columbia University.

Over this time, RGC has provided a strong foundation for hundreds of young children as they start their lives, supported families on the journey through new parenthood, and mentored countless new teachers and other early childhood professionals just beginning their careers. Please consider helping us to continue to provide this support at such a critical time in people's personal and professional lives.

A donation to the RGC General Gifts and Family Scholarship Funds will make a meaningful difference in the experiences of the children, families, staff, and students who become part of the Rita Gold family. Gifts to the RGC create opportunities to enrich our programs and services for young children and families, and help make up the difference between costs and tuition. Your generosity will help in three priority areas:

• Offer curriculum such as the RGC Art Program coordinated by an artist-in-residence, classroom materials, and field trips that enrich our children’s experience.
  

  We are thrilled to be working with artists-in-residence to integrate art and music into the classroom. Your support for curriculum initiatives allows us to provide specialized materials for the classroom, build curricular connections to support our emergent curriculum, and bring together our community at our annual art show each spring.

• Honor our commitment to socio-economic diversity by providing financial support to families who are struggling to maintain their child’s enrollment as they balance work/study and family life.

  We are seeking your help in increasing our scholarship funds so we can more fully support families who are overwhelmed by the stress of maintaining their child’s enrollment as they balance work/study and family life. As a result, a wider range of families will be able to access high quality early child care. Please consider contributing to the Leslie Williams Memorial Scholarship Fund and to the Barker Family Scholarship Fund for TC Families.

• Support practicum students’ field placements and doctoral fellows' research through rich, supervised classroom practica and research fellowships.

  The Rita Gold Center continues to serve as a professional preparation practice site.  Each year, our incredible teachers supervise 25 practicum students.  We also engage in ongoing research and research training as part of our mission, under the guidance of Professor Susan Recchia. These findings inform our work at RGC as well as the wider early childhood community through presentations at national conferences such as the American Educational Research Association, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education. 

Please consider supporting others just starting out at this crucial time.

Every gift at any level will help RGC to sustain high quality and meaningful experiences for children, families, staff, and students. 

Sincerely,

Haeny Yoon and Maria Paula Ghiso
Faculty Directors

Patrice Nichols
On-Site Associate Director