Friendship Center

The Friendship Center at Schooley's Mountain is the very firstInter generational Child Care Center in Northwest New Jersey.

Thecenter is a model for other child care groups pursuing the intergenerational child care concept.

The Friendship Center wasconceived over a decade ago when members of the Heath Village Boardof Trustees saw a promising opportunity a chance to provide aunique learning and development experience for the children whileenriching the lives of Heath Village residents at the same time.That opportunity was inter generational childcare in a retirementcommunity setting.

With so many working parents and families sodispersed, the kind of individual attention that children needcould often not be adequately provided in a traditional day carefacility.

Why not draw on the rich pool of caring adults at HeathVillage who would be eager to volunteer their time to making eachchild seem special With the help of a grant from the Lorna W.Reynolds Children's Development Fund, The Friendship Center openedits doors in 1992 and was an immediate success.

Before the firstyear of operation was complete, the Friendship Center was at fullcapacity with a waiting list (a status that it has enjoyedcontinuously since), was receiving top ratings for the quality ofits childcare, had drawn the participation of dozens of seniors,and was on a solid financial footing.

Since that time, theFriendship Center has doubled its physical size while maintainingits maximum enrollment at 42, has been the subject of an awardwinning video (The Friendship Center Experience) and numerousmagazine and newspaper articles, and has continued to attractinterested visitors looking to us as a model they can emulate intheir own facilities.