Health Foundation Honors CDR

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Williamsburg Community Health Foundation honored nonprofit Child Development Resources at a Healthcare Heroes event Thursday.

CDR, founded in 1966 to help disabled and at-risk children, has expanded over the years so it now offers programs to promote healthy growth and development for all infants and toddlers in the Historic Triangle. The organization serves more than 1,000 families each year through several programs including Early Head Start, First Steps and Investing in Fatherhood.

According to a press release, the WCHF “recognizes CDR’s unique combination of direct services to support children and families and training for the early childhood professionals who serve them as a significant investment in the future of our community’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens.”

After receiving the award, Executive Director for CDR Paul Scott said, “We are honored to receive the Williamsburg Community Health Foundation's 2010 Health Care Hero’s award, and are grateful to the Foundation's Board, President Jeanne Zeidler, and the Foundation staff for their support of our mission and their steadfast commitment to improving the lives and health of children in our community.

“It is also humbling to join the amazing group of past Health Care Heroes honorees, who represent the highest level of dedication to the health of our community.

“The award serves as a wonderful recognition for the hard work and dedication of our talented staff, who travel all over the Historic Triangle visiting children in their homes, conducting assessments and screenings, providing specialized therapy and other interventions to help infants and toddlers reach their full potential. I am thrilled for them to receive this level of recognition from such an important community partner as the Williamsburg Community Health Foundation.”

CDR has trained more than 15,000 early childhood and early intervention professionals and family members, nationally and internationally during the past 30 years. The organization also oversees Virginia’ Infant and Toddler Specialist Network, a training and development program for childcare providers, and CDR also works with Virginia’s STAR rating system to help assess and improve early childhood education and childcare providers.

Children with disabilities who have enrolled in CDR programs increased developmental skills by more than 26 percent and made 15 months of gains in a single year, according to a WCHF press release. The group’s Infant and Parent Program provided more than 10,000 hours of service to 254 children in the last year, 22 percent more kids than the year previous.

The sixty children served in CDR’s First Steps Child Care and Development Centers showed similar gains in developmental skills, leaving the program with developmental skills 8.5 percent higher than their peers.

CDR’s Comprehensive Health Investment Project provided 132 children and 26 prenatal women with over 1,750 home visits or help getting to the doctor. All the children enrolled in the program for one year were fully immunized, had health insurance and a medical home that provided access to continuous health care.

An additional 240 low income children and pregnant women were helped through CDR’s Early Head Start program, recently nominated as a National Center of Excellence.

CDR’s Developmental Monitoring program helped families of children who may not have an identified health or developmental concern, but were exposed to either social or environmental risk factors that could later compromise their healthy growth and development such as homelessness, lack of family support, mental illness or substance abuse.

“We are proud to partner with the Foundation through our programs like the Comprehensive Health Investment Project, the Infant Parent Program and the Network for Latino People, and we look forward to continuing our work with the Foundation in the future to address the most critical needs in our community,” said Scott.