FRC: Reception

"Reception is our face to the world."

More Reception | How We Do It

Your reception area conveys a powerful message to the community and family members who come to your center. A warm and welcoming atmosphere goes a long way toward dispelling fears that people new to the center may have. Get input from the community or your parent advisory board about how they would like the reception area to look. Take care in hiring the right reception person. He or she is a crucial link to the community and should be able to relate to a wide variety of people and to convey a sense of warmth and professionalism to the community.

• Is this a safe place?
• Are children welcome here?
• Am I welcome here?
• Are there people from my culture here?
• Do they speak my language here?
• Will these people be able to meet my needs?

Some ideas

• Display your mission or vision statement prominently.
• Have a community bulletin board to show your linkage to the larger community.
• Create a welcome to our FRC brochure. If literacy is an issue in your community, use visual images to convey FRC functions.
• Include resource materials in languages spoken by the FRC community.
• Choose comfortable, homey, child-friendly furniture. Choose furniture that will tolerate heavy usage and fabrics that don't show stains.
• Use art to convey who you are. Include positive, culturally relevant images, and remember to include images of men as well as women to convey the message that fathers are welcome. Include children's art. It not only is colorful and visually exciting, but it also helps children to feel this is their center and highlights the positive activities children are involved in.
• Get the community involved. Sponsor a community mural project or a contest to design a logo for your center.

Crisis

People sometimes come to FRCs when they are in crisis. All staff should be trained in active listening, and the FRC needs to have a clearly developed crisis plan should the unexpected occur. See an example of a crisis plan.