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RCMA provides
quality child care and early education for children of migrant farm
workers and rural, low-income families throughout Florida.
RCMA
was founded Oct. 1, 1965, by Mennonite Church volunteers in the Redlands
farming area of southern Miami-Dade County to provide a safe, nurturing
environment for children while their parents worked in the fields.
RCMA began with three centers, serving approximately 75 children in the Homestead and Florida City area. Today, RCMA serves nearly 8,000 children in more than 75 centers and two charter schools in 21 Florida counties. More than 2,000 children are on our waiting lists.
The largest non-profit child-care provider in Florida, RCMA is a leader in high-quality early childhood services. More than half of RCMA’s child-care centers are nationally accredited.
A
non-sectarian association, RCMA is built on principles of incorporating
the family into child development, health care and educational activities
and hiring and training staff from the communities served.
This provides security for the parents, knowing their cultures are respected while their children are being prepared to enter school. For the children, it imparts the strengths of both their own ethnic origins and those of the diverse society they are joining.
Overseeing RCMA is a volunteer Board of Directors, drawn from the geographic
regions where RCMA operates and the constituencies served.
RCMA is funded by local, state and federal grants, as well as the
generosity of the United Way, agribusiness and other corporations, community foundations
and individuals. Volunteers and
donors are always welcome.
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