Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Celia Fisher . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Celia , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Our mission is to serve as many children as possible in the most inclusive, therapeutic and supportive environment possible. We want families to experience quality care and school readiness skills, regardless of their financial status and level of resources.

Our current program has been restructured from a family day care setting to a private center based model, located in Mid City Santa Monica. I desired to create what I lacked as a single parent back in 1996, when I first moved to Santa Monica from transitional housing/homeless services,.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was working for LAUSD and raising 2 girls when I became homeless in 1996. I had to live in transitional housing while waiting for permanent housing subsidies to be offered for my family. I had been fortunate enough to get housing in Santa Monica and we settled across the street from SMC. This gave me access to further my education and knowledge of Early Childhood Education. Eventually I started a Family Childcare in my Section 8 apartment.

This was my dream. I desperately wanted to work for myself and build a program for children in my community that offered quality educational and community services, unlike any other.

I was struggling to provide for my family. So many opportunities for me and my children to advance were missed because of lack of access and especially affordable, quality

When working as a family childcare home, we had LAUP funding. This funding provided us with funded seats for 4 year olds. We used this funding to build our school into a better place for children to grow and became a Center Based School in December of 2012.

Our current program serves 30 preschool children in Santa Monica and the surrounding areas. We provide a State Funded Food Program that serves free breakfast, Lunch and PM snacks to all students enrolled. We also provide transportation from local elementary schools to our facility and other facilities as well. Beach Moms works closely with local community groups and therapeutic preschools in order to support the development of children with special needs. If it is necessary, we allow the children to participate in therapy on our campus.

Finally, we pride ourselves in our very unique Summer Swim Program. We have for decades, given young children opportunities to explore water safety and swimming lessons throughout the summer. Our objective is to ensure all our outgoing kindergarten students can swim.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

During COVID, Beach Moms had to revisit the Family Child Care model because of the amount of School age children that needed care during the pandemic. At that time my daughter,Brandi Graves, moved her daycare license to Santa Monica to provide services to the children who were not allowed to attend their local home schools.
This experience has led us to prioritize opening a school age program in our community. Currently we are waiting for our 2nd location to be licensed at Calvary Baptist Church.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think my passion for this work has been a constant and has made us a special staple in our community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Beachmomz.com
• Instagram: Beachmomscdc
• Facebook: Brachmomscdc