By Rod Bacon
Due to a need for more space, Southern Adirondack Child Care Network recently relocated to 16 Pearl Street in Glens Falls. The move was celebrated on April 24 with a ribbon cutting hosted by the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce and well attended by community stakeholders, current and former staff, and board members.
“We moved for a variety of reasons,” said Lynn Sickles, executive director of SACCN. “We were a bit crowded in our old location and the opportunity presented itself to move to a larger space.”
Sickles noted that the organization now has a training room that can be used for the education of child care providers.
Founded in 1992, the network has leased space for many years from Community, Work & Independence (CWI), first at 88 Broad Street and later at 37 Everts Avenue in Glens Falls.
Sickles has been the executive director since the beginning. “It’s clearly a passion of mine,” she said. “I love what I’m doing.”
At he outset the staff consisted of Sickles and one assistant. There are now nine people on staff.
The primary sources of funding for SACCN are the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, the New York State Department of Health, fees for services, and private donations. Others that support the organization financially are Glens Falls National Bank, Warren County American Recovery Act, Washington County American Recovery Act, and Adirondack Foundation,
The network’s calendar is always full. During the 2022-2023 fiscal year 260 early childhood professionals attended Child Care Network trainings, 99 hours of on-site technical assistance was provided to child care providers, and providers contacted the Child Care Network 707 times requesting specific information related to providing services. In addition, 102 parents were assisted in finding child care.