Belmont's Cipriani After-School Care [CASC] is a very special organization that has grown markedly and received many awards since it began in 1994. It started when Karen Haas-Foletta bid on the on-site child care program at Belmont's Cipriani Elementary School, which was reopening after a 10 year closure.

Karen, recognizing a need for affordable, quality child care in the area, bid on the site and opened a child care center that fall. She was running similar programs in San Francisco and modeled her new organization on the San Francisco programs with a parent/guardian board of directors. By running the site as a non-profit, the board was able to put their focus on the children, rather than the potential earnings.

In 1997, CASC, Inc. was awarded a grant from Work/Family Directions to create a summer camp for middle school youth. The Belmont-Redwood Shores School District agreed to house the camp at Ralston Middle School. The "Hands-On" Science and Adventure camp was funded for three years and, as a result, many of the parents asked that the program remain open year-round. The RAMS Program was developed and opened in 1999.

Since then, CASC programs have expanded to pre-schools and middle schools, as well as its original K-5 program at several locations in the district. The Cipriani After-School Site achieved accreditation in 1999 by the National School-Age Care Alliance, now called the National After-School Association (NAA) and was re-accredited in 2002 and 2005. NAA Accreditation symbolizes a commitment to quality school-age care. As one of the first school-age programs in the nation to be accredited, Cipriani After-School Care, Inc. is recognized nationally as a leader in quality care for children before and after school.

The programs can take some children with special needs, and because it’s a non-profit, it also can provide tuition assistance, both approved on a case-by-case basis.

Photo: Cipriani After-School Care website

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