Children Are Our Most Important Resource
- Jodi Brunner
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Article and photos by Mallory Leonard
As I approached the front entrance of 194 US Oval in Plattsburgh, the sound of children laughing was the first thing that greeted me. The second was Jamie Basiliere’s joyful smile as she welcomed me to the Family Connections Resource Center, headquarters for the Child Care Coordinating Council of the North Country, Inc. (CCCCNC). When I entered the building, I found an abundance of information, resource lists, program schedules, and items that families may need including children’s clothing, diapers, formula, sunhats, and bottles. All of this was completely free to take for anyone who came in.
Basiliere is entering her 34th year as director of the organization. She applied for the position at the suggestion of her partner (now husband) who resided here in New York while she was living in Maine and working at the Children’s Center at the University of Maine in Orono. “He called and said he had seen a job advertised in the newspaper that sounded like something I might do,” she recalled “Life brings you to where you need to be.” She applied, was chosen and started work in April of 1992.
Founded in 1988, the goal of CCCCNC is to strengthen and support families and child care professionals throughout the North Country. “There was a group of mothers - I always call them the Founding Mothers - that formed a taskforce and got this organization incorporated,” Basiliere said. “They were young, professional women with kids who received help from Senator Ron Stafford who secured their initial $50,000 via grant funds from the state.”
From modest start to 2024 CCCCNC’s budget has grown from $50K to $2.01M to cover its now three resource center locations. Family Connections (Plattsburgh), Families R Us (Malone), and Family Matters (Tupper Lake) make up CCCCNC’s Adirondack Family Resource Center Network. In 2024 the three served 1,009 adults and their 1,045 children. The locations were visited a whopping total of 20,327 times.
As the organization grew, staffing expanded as well. Basiliere not only has the support of a Finance and HR Director and CPA Consultant now, but the two thrusts of the organization, Child Care Services and Family Prevention Services, have 21 staff collectively. “We are about 98% publicly funded,” Basiliere stated. As a non-profit organization, CCCCNC’s major public funding sources include the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, NYS Health Department, and the NYS Education Department. Private funding sources include the Adirondack Foundation, United Way of the Adirondacks, Town Fair Tire Foundation, Kiwanis Club, First Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist Church, and the Gordon family.
CCCCNC serves all families, regardless of status, income, family size, or makeup. “It doesn’t matter who you are, everybody is welcome at the family resource center,” Basiliere offered with a big smile. Parents raising young children, kinship families, adoptive families and legal guardians, and parents who have lost custody are among those served. CCCCNC also hosts court-ordered supervised visitation, and staff are designated to facilitate those appointments. Over the course of a year, CCCCNC serves approximately 100 families and 150 children for those supervised visits.
CCCCNC’s vision didn’t always include family resource centers. Primarily they were created to help coordinate child care resources and support child care professionals. Basiliere explained, “One day, a mother came and knocked on my office door. She was on maternity leave and her husband was working. She was looking for a place to socialize, meet other mothers and have a place for her baby to play. Then, lo and behold, another mother with a baby near the same age knocked on my door who was looking for the same thing.” Basiliere introduced the two, they became friends and, serendipitously, a grant became available from the state to start a family resource center — a place where all families could go to connect and find resources. Family Connections was established in May of 1995.
Today the calendar’s for all three of the CCCCNC centers are packed with events including playgroups, parental support groups, playground meet ups, breastfeeding support groups, reading and literacy events, developmental screenings, beach days, holiday celebrations and cookouts, field trips, and parenting classes just to name a few. Opportunities for socialization, parent and guardian support and educational experiences are in abundance at each location and free for all.
My visit to the Plattsburgh headquarters coincided with a sensory play group session. Children and parents played together, exploring and laughing as they reached into a bin of shaving cream to discover dinosaurs buried beneath the surface, then transferring them to a nearby bin filled with sponges and water to clean them off. What fun!! The whole play room was open to them and children could wander to other areas as they pleased, exploring to their heart’s content.
CCCCNC support is not only provided to families, but to child care professionals as well. Training and technical assistance are available, but also assistance with starting a child care program. Navigating state regulations can be daunting, but the organization is there to help with that, as well as many other areas of support for child care professionals.
CCCCNC also conducts Infant and Adult CPR, First Aid and AED certification programs in-house through the National Safety Council. It is a point of pride for Basiliere —who teaches the classes — that she gets to see the child care providers in the area for certification every two years. “I teach 12 to 15 classes a year which generate about $25,000 for the organization. Child care providers are the primary audience for the classes. They are some of my favorite people. They are so smart and they work so hard.”
CCCCNC is getting the word out in creative ways, and supporting child care providers while doing it. The organization recently attended the North Country Chamber of Commerce’s Business Expo, and Basiliere beamed as she told me about it. “We gave out three prizes. First prize was $600, second prize was $300, and third prize was $100,” she said. “We cut checks to three child care providers, which was great.”
The organization also attends as many events as possible, incorporating aspects of its mission into all of them. Free activities for children at local events (including a child car wash complete with water and bubbles), community involvement and partnerships with local organizations have all been vital to letting the North Country know about the organization and its mission of supporting and strengthening families and child care professionals.
Family Connections celebrated its birthday in May. “We just had a 30th birthday party out on the Oval!” Basiliere exclaimed. “We served mini cupcakes; we flew kites and sang Happy Birthday. It was fun!” Everything is worth celebrating at the Child Care Coordinating Council of the North Country, Inc. A beautiful North Country day is even better with cupcakes and a kite.
Child Care Coordinating Council of the North Country, Inc.
194 US Oval
Plattsburgh, NY 12903
(518) 561-4999