Grow NJ Kids

The South Region Technical Assistance Center for Grow New Jersey Kids is committed to providing technical assistance, coaching and modeling to early childhood educators enrolled in quality improvement initiatives. Grow NJ Kids is available to Licensed Child Care Centers, Family Child Care Providers, District Preschool Programs and Head Start Programs. The South Region Technical Assistance Center provides services to the seven counties that comprise Southern New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem. 

Grow New Jersey Kids (GNJK) is a state-sponsored initiative to raise the quality of child care and early learning throughout New Jersey. GNJK gives child care and early learning programs resources to assess and improve their programs, while providing parents with information that allows them to evaluate the quality of programs and make the best choices for their child. The goal is to create a system that encourages ongoing improvement. Once programs have reached their initial improvement efforts, they will be assessed by trained raters and can receive a 3,4, or 5-star rating. 

The South Region Technical Assistance Center has a team of Technical Assistance Specialist (TAS) that are highly trained in the GNJK Standards and the New Jersey Early Learning Standards. Our TAS provide coaching, mentorship and consultation to early childhood education center’s administrators and teaching staff to support them in their efforts to reach the GNJK standards in preparation for their rating assessment. Once a center is rated, they will continue to have the ongoing assistance of their TAS to support the programs in their efforts to maintain continuous quality improvement.