Company Profile
Nurtury Early Education
Company Overview
For over 130 years, Nurtury has provided the highest quality early care and education programs for the communities of Greater Boston. Formerly known as Associated Early Care and Education, Nurtury gives the youngest children in need, from birth to age five, the opportunity to reach their full potential by investing in school readiness, promoting healthy development, and strengthening families.
Since our beginning in 1878, we’ve continuously evolved to meet the needs of the families and communities we serve. We strive to grow every day and believe that when you nurture a child, you nurture a community. We work with Boston’s early care and education community to use data to drive improvements in the quality of early care and education through Nurtury’s Boston Early Education Quality Improvement Project (Boston EQUIP).
Our programs and services currently provide care for over 1,200 children in need. We have six early care and education centers as well a network of 130 family child care educators.
We work with many partners nation-wide to advocate for accessible, affordable, high quality early care and education.
Company History
When our first program opened in 1878, Nurtury became New England's first child care and early education agency. One hundred and thirty years later, we remain committed to providing high quality, affordable child care to Greater Boston's working families and their children.
1878-The New Day Nursery opens on Hancock St. in Beacon Hill as the first New England day program for children in Boston.
1882-The Ward 16 Nursery, located on Green Street in the South End, opens as a daycare for the children of working mothers. The children participating range in age from 6 months to 6 years old.
1885-The New Day Nursery changes its name to the Sunnyside Day Nursery. (Now located at 11 Mt. Pleasant Avenue, Roxbury.)
1922-Dr. Abigail Eliot opens the Ruggles Nursery School, the first educational nursery in the United States. The program originally started as a nursery in a Ruggles neighborhood house. (Now located at 38 Horadan Way, Roxbury.)
1926-Dr. Abigail Eliot and Patty Smith Hill found NANE, the National Association of Nursery Educators, the precursor to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
1942-Federal Government passes the Lanham Act, providing federal funding for child care across the country as part of the war effort because women were needed in the workforce. Nurtury programs participate.
1948-Last Lanham Act funding disappears. Boston leaders including Dr. Abigail Eliot and Lucy Miller Mitchell form committee to plan for the future of these programs.
1951-As a result of the committee's work, the Board of the United Community Services of Metropolitan Boston (forerunner to the United Way) creates Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston. Associated opens with six charter programs: The South End Day Nursery, The Ruggles St. Nursery, the Sunnyside Day Nursery, the Robert Gould Shaw House, the Trinity Neighborhood House and the Elizabeth Peabody House.
1952-Associated incorporates with eight member programs, five settlement houses (Dorchester House, Robert Gould Shaw House, Oliver James House, Trinity House and the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood House) and three day nurseries (South End Day Nursery, Ruggles St. Nursery and Sunnyside Day Nursery).
1956-The South End Day Nursery moves to the Bromley-Heath Housing project in Jamaica Plain. The forerunner of Nurtury"s Learning Lab.
1962-Pressed by Lucy Miller Mitchell and the Associated Board, Governor John Volpe signs the first basic Child Care Standards law in Massachusetts, making Massachusetts eligible for federal funds. Associated opens federally funded pilot preschool project in the Columbia Point Housing Development. By 1964, the pilot project becomes Head Start.
1968-Associated accepts the first state contract for child care services in the Commonwealth from the Department of Public Welfare.
1972-Associated opens the Gilday Center for 12 Trauma X (abused and neglected) infants and toddlers placed by the inflicted injury unit of the Department of Public Welfare.
1981-The Family Day Care program (FDC) begins contracting with family child care providers to serve four children through funding from the Department of Social Services.
1988-The federal Family Support Act (FSA) passes. The bill guarantees child care for twelve months to families leaving the federal Aid To Families with Dependent Children program (AFDC.) The FSA is later amended in 1990 to include low-income 'at risk' families not on AFDC.
1989-Nurtury takes over The Central School, Cambridge's first parent co-op child care program. Children's Day Care of Cambridge becomes accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs.
1990-The Child Care and Development Block Grant passes in the U.S Congress. It has broad eligibility, requires no matching funds from states and is administered by the states. The CCDBG includes working and non-working families with incomes falling below 75% of the state's median income level.
1994-Nurtury launches a research and policy office and becomes the managing agency for Boston EQUIP, a citywide initiative, funded by AT&T, to evaluate and enhance quality in early childhood education.
1995-Nurtury establishes Boston's first accreditation facilitation project to assist programs throughout Eastern Massachusetts with becoming accredited.
1999-Nurtury establishes the first child care Quality Assurance Department in the country.
2007-The Child Care Project, a Dorchester-based family child care system, merges with Nurtury, adding 140 children to the 950 enrolled in Associated's programs.
2014-Associated Early Care and Education changes its name to Nurtury. Nurtury's state of the art Learning Lab opens incorporating the most creative thinking and evidenced-based practices, intended to be a replicable, national model for delivering early education and comprehensive family services in urban areas.
Benefits
In addition to competitive wages, which include stipends/hiring bonuses for qualifying individuals, Nurtury offers a comprehensive benefits package including the following:
Medical
Dental
Vision
Employee Assistance Program
403(b)
50% Child Care Discount
Flexible Spending Accounts
Generous Paid Time Off