Cradlerock Children's Center

OUR HISTORY

Cradlerock Children’s Center has always been a grassroots initiative, driven by and deeply rooted in our local community. The center was first conceived of in 2004, when several members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia (UUCC) began discussing the idea of creating a nonprofit daycare and preschool center in space located within the Owen Brown Interfaith Center. The goal was to create a center that would offer high-quality early childhood education to a diverse range of families in the neighborhood and throughout Howard County.

Members of UUCC pitched in to make that goal a reality, donating both start-up funding and volunteer hours to renovate CCC’s classrooms and offices. The center opened in August 2005 and has since become one of the few childcare centers in Howard County to receive accreditation from the Maryland Department of Education. CCC has also achieved its goal of serving a range of families and has developed a successful ESL program as well as a scholarship program for needy students.

CCC operates independently of UUCC, and there is no religious programming in our curriculum.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to create a stimulating, nurturing, values-rich environment for children of varied backgrounds. We offer an engaging, play-based program that involves the whole child, encouraging social, and intellectual growth, while empowering each child to develop at his/her own rate. We treat our staff with respect: recruiting, recognizing and rewarding excellence. We strive to become a welcoming, transformative educational resource for our families and for those in the surrounding community.