Sewall Child Development Center Inc.

“The draft 990 was reviewed by the chief executive officer (ceo) and distributed by the ceo to the finance committee for review before signing the final document. The contract accountant also reviews the financial statement portion of the draft.”

“All staff, volunteers, and board members must avoid potential and actual conflicts of interest, as well as perceptions of conflicts of interest. Any conflict of interest, potential conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest must be reported to the ceo immediately. Members of the board are prohibited from accepting gifts, money or gratuities from the following: - persons receiving benefits or services from sewall - any person or entity performing or seeking to perform services under contract with sewall - persons who are otherwise in a position to benefit from the actions of the board any board member who has a conflict of interest must abstain from voting on any matter to which the conflict of interest applies, and each board member must fully disclose to the ceo and then the ceo must fully disclose to the board chair, all material facts regarding the conflict of interest and the conflicted transaction. All staff, volunteers and board members must periodically sign an acknowledgement of their understanding of the purposes of the policy and their agreement to make full written disclosure of any matter that could potentially be a conflict of interest as soon as they learn of it.”

“The current ceo's compensation was determined and documented by the board of directors after conducting a national search of compensation for similar positions in other nonprofit organizations in 2010. The ceo's compensation is reviewed annually, and was last reviewed in december of 2017.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, financial statements, and form 990 available to the public upon request.”

“On march 16, 2020, sewall administration, in collaboration with denver public schools and the children's hospital, made the decision to close all sewall programming due to the threat of the covid virus. Upon further networking, sewall staff began remote services to children and their families as appropriate and possible during the second week of april. At the beginning of june 2020, sewall began to open its full day programs in stages, first to full day families at 2 locations with a third of the staff returning. All staff without health/family issues impacted by covid were requested to return on-site in july 2020. During the time period between march and june 2020, administrators worked with all of our program funding partners to bill for as many remote services as possible. All staff who wanted continued employment stayed with sewall and were paid throughout this period. In addition, sewall expanded fundraising to include supporting families with emergency funding for food, clothing and rent. Additional resources were put into technology to enable children, families and staff to enable full participation.”

“Preschool - children, ages two and one-half to five, with and without special needs, are taught in preschool classes based on an inclusive education model. Sessions are four days weekly for half a day at nine locations. Therapies are integrated into classroom activities in the most natural way possible. The "read, play and learn" curriculum provides the basis for sewall's early intervention in preschool, and is implemented in a trans-disciplinary, play-based approach. The trans-disciplinary approach encompasses cognitive, social-emotional, sensorimotor, communication and language perspectives. Development and learning is encouraged across domains. The curriculum focuses on incorporating activities that motivate each child, and as a result of the teachers' role as facilitator, each child has individualized instruction. The team, including an early childhood teacher, teaching assistant, early childhood special educator, occupational or physical therapist, speech/language pathologist and mental health specialist, plan the curriculum on a weekly basis. Using familiar stories, the team provides a theme-based approach to encourage and support each child's growth development. The storybooks reflect family, community, and cultural diversity. Children engage in a variety of activities suited to their developmental abilities and all relating to the same concept. Repetition of these concepts across numerous and diverse situations encourages the generalization of knowledge and skills.”

“Infant/toddler - children, from birth to age three, having identified special needs, and their parents are provided early intervention services in a variety of settings, including home and childcare. The child's potential is developed within the context of typical daily activities. Early childhood educators consider play a child's work. Beginning at age two, parents may enroll their child in a transitional toddler/preschool program at sewall for children with and without special needs. Diagnostic and evaluation clinic - ("d & e clinic") children from birth to age 12 exhibiting potential delays receive a comprehensive evaluation by sewall's trans-disciplinary diagnostic and evaluation team. Diagnostic information and treatment recommendations are provided to the child's caregiver. Family outreach - sewall's social workers partner with parents to involve them in decisions about their children and their children's programs, and to assist them in needed resources in the community. Partners in leadership, comprised of monthly weekend advocacy sessions, is training for a cohort of twenty families during the school year. Head start delegate program - 60 children are funded under the umbrella of denver great kids head start to receive full-day head start preschool services. Two sites have been designated as head start delegate sites: dahlia center for health and well-being and the zone for inclusive learning (formerly z place). All children receive all educational services (as noted in preschool) as well as meals through the usda food program and support by a family service worker.”

“Sewall applied for and received a paycheck protection program loan of 852,800.00 in april 2020 to support the agency in keeping all staff and bills paid during the covid lockdown between march and june 2020. We are in the process of applying for the loan to be transferred to a grant.”