Middle Identify: Gateway Area YMCA | Location: St. Louis, Illinois

THE CHALLENGE

Assembly the wants and expectations of twenty first century dad and mom 

Through the first 5 years of life, youngsters expertise their quickest charge of growth, sooner than at every other level of their lives. They take their first steps, kind their first phrases, and begin to construct their id. Evidently, the standard of care they obtain throughout these youth issues, particularly to the dad and mom who drop them off and say goodbye every morning. 

Usually, drop off and decide up are a few of the busiest instances of the day in childcare, they usually usually final solely a matter of minutes. Leaving not almost sufficient time for fogeys and educators to have interaction in significant dialogue in regards to the little one and their day. So the place does this go away vital communication? It usually turns into rushed and to the purpose, with little time for extra significant conversations and interactions between dad and mom and educators. With only some minutes of communication per day, it dangers educators feeling their laborious work goes unnoticed, and oldsters feeling disconnected and annoyed as they miss out on key milestones of their little one’s growth.

Sarah Rhodebeck, Govt Director at Gateway Area YMCA in St.Louis, Illinois, skilled this primary hand when she despatched out a survey to all her households, and noticed dad and mom had been dissatisfied with the extent of communication they had been provided all through the day. 

Sarah instantly began questioning what she may do to raised showcase the worth of the top quality care they had been providing, and the way she may meet dad and mom’ expectations for communication. As knowledgeable chief in early childhood training, Sarah is aware of how vital high quality guardian communication is to a thriving middle, so she set about making a change. 

“We weren’t speaking in a approach that folks had been happy with and it was impacting our high quality of care. Dad and mom had been annoyed with having to attend till the tip of the day to obtain vital data, particularly if the lead instructor was already gone after they arrived. It created a break in communication”

Sarah Rhodebeck

THE SOLUTION

Use HiMama to enhance center-wide communication and showcase the worth of high-quality childcare

Sarah has been within the subject of early childhood training for over 30 years. She’s witnessed all of the strategies of guardian communication, from pen and paper, to Fb, and even texting. Sarah realized that these techniques weren’t assembly the wants and expectations of right now’s dad and mom, nor had been they showcasing the worth of the care and training that she and her employees had been offering. 

With no centralized communication software, Sarah couldn’t see the communication that was occurring between academics and oldsters. This additionally meant academics had been utilizing their private gadgets to speak with dad and mom, proper in the course of the classroom. 

“Certainly one of our greatest struggles was academics speaking with dad and mom on private accounts. There was no accountability or method to hint the messaging that we may see. We additionally didn’t need our employees coping with guardian messages exterior of working hours” – Sarah Rhodebeck

With pen and paper communication, dad and mom had been lacking out on a few of their youngsters’s most vital moments. Not solely had been dad and mom feeling disconnected from their little one, however they’d no management over how or after they may evaluation their little one’s each day documentation. 

To retain households, Sarah knew she needed to discover a method to bridge the hole between dad and mom and the classroom. She started her seek for varied childcare administration softwares, and landed on HiMama as essentially the most complete early training edtech resolution. With HiMama, dad and mom can entry details about their little one at any time, offering households with extra alternatives to really feel linked to their little one all through the day, whereas additionally permitting them to evaluation the documentation at a time and place that was handy for them. 

“I didn’t go together with HiMama just because I had heard good critiques. I additionally did my analysis on all of the platforms, and HiMama actually stood out. You supply a lot extra to your prospects than simply an app”

Sarah Rhodebeck

THE RESULT 

100% enchancment on guardian satisfaction surveys 

Since implementing HiMama 4 years in the past, Sarah has been in a position to centralize all middle communications to drive extra consistency, accountability and engagement from each instructing employees and households. ​​Utilizing HiMama has empowered educators at Gateway YMCA of their direct communication with dad and mom and constructed up Sarah’s confidence in her staffs’ capacity to deal with the whole lot from each day questions, to delicate points persistently, inside the tips offered by the administration. On prime of the accountability that HiMama has created, there’s a central communication historical past that she all the time has entry to when questions are introduced her approach.

“That is precisely what dad and mom need, particularly dad and mom who’re separated. If they’re solely choosing up their little one as soon as each different week, they nonetheless know they’ve entry to each day communication and images of their little one. Our guardian communication surveys improved to 100% satisfaction after we carried out HiMama.” – Sarah Rhodebeck

Sarah began to note the worth of HiMama for her households as quickly as they began utilizing the app. When the variety of cellphone calls went down whereas the variety of messages ticked up, Sarah may see how a lot dad and mom most well-liked this technique of communication. Their sentiments had been virtually instantly mirrored in guardian satisfaction scores.

“A giant ‘Aha’ second for us was when our middle needed to shut down in a single day, and we needed to get the message out to oldsters instantly. We despatched a fast notification via HiMama, and the following day, not one guardian confirmed up. That’s after we knew all of the dad and mom had been utilizing it. To not point out the time it saved us not having to name each guardian within the early hours of the morning!”

Sarah Rhodebeck

Efficient guardian communication is vital to optimistic partnerships between households and childcare facilities. When suppliers share significant data with households all through the day, it builds belief and shared accountability in every little one’s development and growth. 

“I’ve not had one unhealthy expertise with HiMama and now we have constructed such an exquisite relationship with you. If I had been to ever go away childcare, I’d wish to come work for HiMama”

Sarah Rhodebeck

Gateway Area YMCA is certainly one of many HiMama prospects who’ve improved their middle high quality and improved guardian communication with HiMama!  We’re so appreciative of the work they do on a regular basis. Fill out the shape beneath to study extra about how HiMama may also help you save time and enhance documentation!