Last updated: January 1, 2025
The pivot to becoming a full-time birth-three educator has been the most rewarding. The 2024 has led to many new beginnings in expanding my ability to make my mark in the early childhood industry. In 2024, I started the Developing Language business, started my state certification, and teaching preschool. There is so much still to do and I am just getting started. 2025 is going to be a year of change and a commitment to my goal of three dimensions of my business. In 2025, I am working to build a strong business that connects language development, families, and the well-being of children. In this blog, I will discuss my plans for the fundraising and certification progress.
Target Goal for 2025
Developing Language is constantly growing notoriety through social networks and my current work with families. I am currently serving 17 families throughout Massachusetts with my Emergent Language Teacher services. I am working with families on developing language skills, strengthening attachment with parents and infants, and teaching engaging play classes. These services are currently the bulk of the business capital, but we are looking to expand these services to curriculum development in 2025. Stay tuned for more information about how we are going to support teachers and schools by implementing play-based education in the classroom.
The most important part of building a business is making the business sustainable and profitable. The expansion of services means hiring some more emergent language teachers and school consultants to provide services. The professional development director’s goal is to commit fully to building the website, creating content, and presenting at conferences. Additional funding sources will needed to further expand services and develop Developing Language services to meet the needs of the market. The December 2024 family climate survey showed that 90% wanted more time for services and 80% wanted to attend virtual workshops for play-based education. Fundraising opportunities will be available throughout 2025 to expand language development services for children and families. All fundraising opportunities will be posted on Instagram and Threads for donations and free resources to support the growth of Developing Language.
Our Mission for 2025
Developing Language for Infants and Toddlers is a language development program designed to empower families to build language and literacy in their infants and toddlers through play. We are committed to serving Hispanic and Black families in low-income areas who do not have access to high-quality education and services in language development. Our organization provides online/in-home play-based services for families to use culturally affirming assessments and strategies to empower Hispanic and Black families to advocate for the needs of their developing children. We are cultivating the foundation of the business in 2025 to bring accessible resources for families to create the business.
The mission for 2025 is to raise funding for business development and establish services for Developing Language. Many aspects of the business require funding for operation, certifications, and marketing. We are committed to building a community of investors who align with our mission to expand our services, resources, and outreach to families who need them. The next section will discuss how we are collecting funding and areas of focus of funding for the upcoming year.
Funding Focus Areas
This year, starting a new business, teaching, and certification was a big financial lift. As 2025 progresses, we hope to meet our financial goal of fundraising $10,000 for starter funds for operating costs and expanding language services. We plan to gain capital through social media fundraising, conferences, selling resources, and crowdfunding. There are some different resources we are looking into to fund the next part of our project this year to spread our outreach to more families. Our mission is to provide free services for all families and to provide high-quality resources for low-income families. Here are the top services for funding to be allocated in the upcoming year.
- Spanish and English Language Development Services online/in-home – $5,000
- Family Guides and Resources for Language Development – $500
- Courses for Emergent Language Teachers – $1,500
- Business Creation (Trademarks, LLC Formation, Certifications, Website) – $1,500
- Conferences – $1,500
The fundraising will include funding for each part of the process in small increments. The first funding initiative will be raising money for Business Creation to support the development of Developing Language as a small business. If you connect with our mission and want to make donations towards the first $1,500, please donate using the link below:
https://buy.stripe.com/4gw4h88U815DgZGdQQ
Certification & Development
We are working towards completing the state certification process for early childhood educators. The state certification process requires completing 30 hours of coursework and a 10-month internship in a birth-to-three setting. We have 9 credits of the 30-credit process and will complete a one-year internship in June 2025. The special education teacher certification process was completed in 2019. We continue to update progress on this blog to inform others on how to set up and create a sustainable path for creating other business routes in childcare. As we complete these requirements, we continue to build services, resources, and curricula dedicated to meeting the needs of our children.
About
Canissa is an certified and experienced early childhood educator with 10+ years of experience. She is Professional Development and Curriculum Director at Developing Language. Her vision has inspired training and resources for thousands of early childhood centers and public schools. Canissa is a trainer for the Emergent Language Teachers program and works with multilingual families in-person and online. She currently has an M.Ed in Early Childhood and is working toward her Ed.S in Early Childhood Education in 2025!
