CELC has a strong commitment to equity with a long history of including those served in planning, provision of care and leadership of the organization.

As early as 1902, the organization set out to create a nursery for children of color because older children could not consistently attend schools as they were needed to stay home to care for young siblings while mothers were working. Records show that an auxiliary board of women of color was created in the early 1900’s to assist in furnishing the center and maintaining the operations. This rich history is ingrained in the organization to this day, and we make concerted efforts to recruit staff from the neighborhoods we serve, add diverse voices to our board and leadership, and create policies that ensure equity. Professional Development Days are scheduled for staff at least three times per year and each purposefully includes a session on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The agency’s By-laws and Code of Regulation explicitly state a “Commitment to Diversity” directing the Board of Directors as follows, “The Corporation embraces diversity of knowledge and understanding of relevant diverse geographies, peoples and their backgrounds, including race, social, educational and professional background, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion, belief and age, as well as culture, personality, work-style and cognitive and personal strengths. Within this context the Board aspires to have an appropriate proportion of directors who have direct experience with and are representative of the Corporation’s students, families, communities and stakeholders.”

The organization provides a robust Health and Wellness program designed to ensure healthy development of children through a variety of health screenings, and when developmental delays or physical disabilities are present, the agency provides interventions/referrals and makes every effort to accommodate each child’s needs in order to keep them in their classrooms. CELC utilizes Conscious Discipline, a trauma-informed, adult-first methodology that integrates social-emotional learning, school culture and discipline in order to create a collaborative, compassionate learning environment. One of the goals of Conscious Discipline is to reduce the disparity seen in expulsion rates of children of color versus white peers.