About Us
History
In 1957, a small group of church women began a ministry in the Dalton neighborhood that helped lower income families. By 1958 Friendship House was established to serve the needs of neighborhood children and their families.
Friendship House established a kindergarten, a mother’s club, scout troops, and a summer program. Urban renewal moved Friendship House to a new neighborhood and became a full-time child care program.
Today, Friendship House is located at 1300 S. Hamilton Street in a state-of-the-art facility. Friendship House offers preschool education and child care for 100 children between 6 week old to 5 year olds. Friendship House offers these services from 6:30 AM- 5:30 PM.
Friendship House was recognized 3 Star Quality Rated by the State of Georgia.
Quality Rated is Georgia’s system to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early education and school‐age care programs. Similar to rating systems for hotels or restaurants, Quality Rated assigns a rating (one star, two star, or three star) to early education and school‐age care programs that go above and beyond minimum licensing standards. By participating in Quality Rated, child care programs demonstrate their commitment to continuous quality improvement.
Accreditation
Friendship House is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
What is accreditation?
Early childhood programs accredited by the NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation have voluntarily undergone a comprehensive process of internal self-study and improvement. Each NAEYC-accredited program must meet all ten of the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and NAEYC Accreditation, visit www.rightchoiceforkids.org.
NAEYC Accreditation of programs for young children represents the mark of quality in early childhood education. NAEYC Accreditation began in 1985 with the goal of providing an accrediting system that would raise the level of early childhood programs. Today, over 7,000 programs are NAEYC Accredited.
NAEYC accredited programs invest in early childhood education because they believe in the benefits to children and families. Early childhood experiences—from birth to age 8—have an enormous impact on children’s lifelong learning and positively contribute to their health and development. Early childhood education programs with the mark of quality benefit children with greater readiness for and success in school.
It is for this reason that parents and families are seeking out NAEYC-accredited programs. Parents choosing an early childhood education program can be overwhelmed by trying to find the highest-quality program for their child. NAEYC Accreditation is the mark of quality that families are looking for. NAEYC Accreditation gives families the chance to make the Right Choice for Kids helping parents find the best possible early childhood experience.
Friendship House was recognized as a Center of Distinction.
Center of Distinction is a voluntary program provided by Bright from the Start, a State-supported program to improve and enhance the quality of child care in Georgia by addressing brain research and appropriate learning activities for preschool children. The overall objectives of its Standards of Care are to maximize learning opportunities for young children birth to five years and to raise the level of awareness about appropriate care for young children.
Center of Distinction recognition is achieved by demonstrating that a high-quality child careenvironment is provided as measured by the Infant/Toddler Environmental Rating Scale (ITERS) and the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R).