The Community Educational Research Group (CERG) is a 501(c)(3) organization originally founded by Guidorist and Lawrence Credit. CERG started in 1967 in a small house in Prince George’s County Maryland as Pixies Glen day care with 30 children. Years later, a second location was added, called Community Day Care Center. This was the first Center in Washington, D.C. The Centers ran as a small business during the 70’s and 80’s until its primary founder Guidorist Credit passed in June 1984.
With her passing, the operations were continued by her husband a retired government worker. Lawrence Credit sold the Maryland location, leaving only the Washington, D.C. location to serve approximately 100 children. Community Day Care Center operated for the next 10 years until the passing of Mr. Credit in July 1994.
With Mr. Credit’s passing, control of Center operations passed to their son, Jeffrey H. Credit. At that time, Jeffrey Credit was a Software Engineer for Raytheon. Jeffrey Credit enrolled in coursework at the University of Maryland to learn about the world of Early Care & Education.
Mr. Credit left his position at Raytheon in 1996 to devote his attention to the childcare business full-time. Two years into his tenure, Mr. Credit opened a second Center, caring for an additional 100 children and changing the name to Community Child Development Center. Many changes have been implemented to improve the business operations and delivery of services to the children and families of Wards 7 and 8 in the District of Columbia. The Centers received their NAEYC accreditation in 2013 and began to partner with numerous organizations to provide better and more expansive services such as early intervention, nutrition, and prescreening services. The name was changed to Community Educational Research Group in 2013 to better reflect the organization’s mission and vision and received its 501c(3) nonprofit status. Today, Community Educational Research Group serves approximately 210 children in its infant, toddler and school-age programs with ages ranging from 6 weeks to 12 years of age. Today, Community Educational Research Group is one of the leaders in Early Care and Education in the District of Columbia.