In Memoriam -- Glendon P. Nimnicht, Ed. D.

"To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent—that is to triumph over old age." - Thomas Bailey Aldrich

In Memoriam -- Glendon P. Nimnicht, Ed. D.

CINDE Colombia has sent word of the death on September 6, 2004, of Glenn Nimnicht whose contributions to early childhood world wide are immense.

In 1963 Nimnicht opened the New Nursery School in Greeley, Colorado, an innovative program for Mexican-American children from three to six years of age and their parents. This innovative program was the result of research and development of culturally relevant participatory alternatives to the healthy development of young children that serve as the basis for social development. These participatory alternatives contributed to the reversal of the poverty cycle primarily because high quality culturally relevant programs were available at a low cost.

In 1967, Dr. Nimnicht moved to the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development where he headed the Division of Early Childhood Education. He developed national training programs for Head Start and Follow Through teachers in more than 20 communities.

Nimnicht and his wife, Dr. Marta Arango de Nimnicht, began searching for avenues to increase awareness surrounding the issue of child development. They moved to Colombia in 1967 where they founded CINDE, the International Center for Education and Human Development. The three main objectives for CINDE are: 1) To improve the physical, emotional and intellectual development of young children through the development of successful educational and health programs; 2) To educate people of all social classes about how to implement similar education and health programs; and 3) To create and publicize ideas that can continue to improve the condition of young children in the Latin American region as well as around the world.

CINDE was originally based in a badly maintained pig farm that Nimnicht and Marta bought with their own money. It has grown from two professionals in 1977 to more than 150 staff members in 1997. However, the current violent state of Columbia has forced CINDE to reduce their staff size to 50 full-time and approximately 50 part-time professionals. CINDE has trained thousands of specialists and field workers in early childhood development who now serve families throughout Colombia and many other nations.

Dr. Marta Arango is a member of the Working Team at Working Forum Belfast where she will share details of their work at CINDE.

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