Agencies Merge to Improve Support to Community

After several years of planning, the Child Development Council, serving Tompkins County, has merged with the Cortland Area Child Care Council. The merger of the two corporations became final on December 30.

The two organizations have common missions to provide support to families and child care providers of children through age 12 years and are part of a statewide network of “Child Care Resource and Referral agencies.”

Sue Dale-Hall, Chief Executive Officer, stated that merging the Cortland office into the Child Development Council’s complement of services will create both administrative savings and programmatic benefits.

“We will combine our financial services, contract management, volunteer coordination (including the Board of Directors), child care provider training calendar, online services, and data collection. On a programmatic level, we will be able to share staffing and expertise in the areas of child care workshops, quality child care program assessments, child development and provider regulatory assistance.”

The Child Development Council will remain as the surviving corporation, and it will retain offices for outreach in both counties.

“We are in the process of consolidating the administrative services and we will continue to monitor the impact of our work in each of the two counties,” adds Dale-Hall.

For more information about Child Care Resource and Referral services in Tompkins and Cortland Counties, visit the website at www.childdevelopmentcouncil.org or call the Child Development Council at (607) 273-0259.