The ANI Initiative

Advocating for the Need of Inclusion in Early Childhood Environments, known as the ANI Initiative, for short, was conceptualized in late 2020 and truly brought to life throughout that of 2021 by that of mother/daughter-in-law duo, Stephanie Geneseo & Ashley Wellman. While working together at All Nestled Inn, FCC, and studying as both Mentor and Mentee in the inaugural National Association of Family Childcare Centers (NAFCC) fellowship of Leaders Shaping Leaders, Stephanie and Ashley were tasked with the responsibility of identifying a need amongst their community, and then addressing it head on through a community project. Following Stephanie's growing 35+ years within the field of childcare, and Ashley's mix of eight years within intellectual disabilities, as well as a professional education in human development & mental health, it quickly became overwhelmingly obvious our project needed to revolve around changing the therapeutic accessibilities for the local families that simply didn't exist in the area prior. Stephanie recalled when the pandemic shut downs occurred, the only local provider in the area that was certified to provide excessive therapeutic supports failed to reopen following the announcement of allowance to do so. Similarly, it's a well known fact learned from families who interview that when they call a provider about a position, if the family by chance volunteer the information that their child has special needs, suddenly, that slot is full. Although this practice is highly illegal, it does not stop the practice from occurring simply because the families often do not know how to defend the action.

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Phase I

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The purpose of the ANI initiative was broken into a two phase structure. The first phase, being internal. This phase created a fully inclusive environment among All Nestled Inn FCC, including through employee practice, and invited therapeutic supports into our facility to perform their services during our class time in an effort to spare the families the need to take time off work to make the extra appointments occur. We created a full package of documentation in order to streamline the communication between the therapeutic supports, ourselves, and the parent(s), that are in line with Ohio regulations. 

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Phase II

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The second phase, was recognition that the problem is bigger than ourselves. In phase II, we expand externally and consult with other centers to do the exact practice we were able to do ourselves in a successful manner in an effort to create an ever expanding inclusive environment in the early childhood education field an truthfully making places where everyone feels that they belong. In phase II, we adapted our documentation pack to be readily available to work in any center or FCC, and streamline to local state regulations. While also implementing measures for technical assistance, performance management, and measures to evaluate both qualitative and quantitative data for program efficiency.