Municipal Early Childhood Programs

In towns where there is a shortage of services for pre-schoolers provided by the local authority, we promote a Municipal Early Childhood Program to support early childhood development through an accessible, integrated and professional city-wide system of programs for very young children and their parents.
 

Directed by a municipal coordinator for early childhood who works in cooperation with other municipal officers (such as those for education, welfare and health), a Municipal Early Childhood Program in the geographic and social periphery is weighted towards identifying and helping children at risk, whose normative development is hampered by birth or environmental circumstances.
 

While the components of a Municipal Early Childhood differ from locality to locality depending on needs, the main components include:

 Programs in day care centers, nurseries and kindergartens for early identification and intervention of developmental, behavioral and emotional problems.
 Enrichment activities and events for children to stimulate their love of learning.
 Professional training of staff in early childhood settings, to strengthen their skills and knowledge in early identification and intervention.
 Courses for parents about parenting skills and early childhood development.

As a central plank of the Northern Recovery Plan, Municipal Early Childhood Programs are operating in the towns of: Acre, Hatzor Haglilit, Kiryat Shmona, Ma'ale Yosef, Nahariya, and Shlomi.

 
Creating Suitable Facilites: Early Childhood Centers
In some localities, it has been necessary to upgrade or build an early childhood center to consolidate and advance the early childhood programs and services in these towns. Some of these buildings will house the local child development unit, which assesses and treats children for paramedical and psychological therapies. They will all provide multi-functional spaces for professional meetings, workshops and courses, community events, and educational and enrichment programs for children and parents.
Read more about Early Childhood Centers