Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

For this assignment I chose the following organization:

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Atlanta Children’s Shelter http://www.acsatl.org/
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Family Music of Augusta http://www.makingmusik.com
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Young Chef’s Academy https://www.youngchefsacademy.com/

Family Music of Augusta is an innovative and creative local organization that I stumbled upon while doing research for this assignment. When I think of music lessons or music classes, I generally think older children, toddlers and preschoolers, I was not aware that there were classes specifically for infants beginning at 15 months in my local area of Augusta! This organization has established a curriculum developmentally designed for young children called Musikgarten! I commend this non-profit organization for thinking outside of the box and bringing creativity back into the lives of our children. With so many budget cuts and such these days a lot of music programs have been cut out of early childhood programs! This is a wonderful opportunity for children to begin to explore the world of music at an early age! 

While living in Atlanta it was disturbing to realize how many homeless children are in the city and how many children go to bed hungry at night. The Atlanta Children’s Shelter founded in 1986 the shelter is the only free childcare facility/organization in the city of Atlanta for homeless families. The shelter prides it’s in helping families to become resilient and re-stabilized after experiencing negative life experiences. This organization truly speaks to the term community of practice in that all of the individuals working to keep this organization functioning are truly learning and growing from one another professionally and personally while feeding their passion for serving the homeless children and families of Atlanta. 

Also in Atlanta Young Chef’s Academy is a unique culinary experience specifically designed with the young child in mind. At the academy, children are able to engage in a variety of projects and assignments related to culinary skills. Beginning at age 3, children are able to participate in some type of culinary experience in the academy. I am highly impressed at the idea of this organization and I intend to visit the academy to gain more knowledge about the experience that is offered for the children! I may even enroll in a class myself, as I am a horrible cook! 

There are several job opportunities available at these three organizations that I could potentially apply for and visualize myself serving in, however I am very interested in the franchise opportunity for Atlanta Young Chef’s Academy. I have the idea of owning a franchise and opening up the organization in the state of Mississippi, in a very rural area. As I am a native of Mississippi and I understand the obesity epidemic that the state has been dealing with for years, I believe this type of organization could be used to teach children at an early age the importance of healthy eating/cooking choices.  I feel that the competently fulfill this role of owning a franchise, I would need to first learn the ins and outs of the currently operation franchises. I would also need educational course pertaining to Business, non-profit, budgeting, etc. I would also need to gain knowledge required to teach the art of cooking to young children. Understanding and maintaining up to date training on healthy eating habits/nutrition are also skills that I feel would be necessary.