Last year, PRE4CLE granted three high-quality preschool providers, Fundamentals Academy, The Centers for Families and Children (The Centers), and The Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland, funds to start new classrooms. The Centers was used their grant to open one of two classrooms at their brand new Glenville Early Learning Center. The building, at 10118 Hampden Avenue, is a space shared with Breakthrough Schools’ Citizens Academy in Glenville. The classrooms at this site are also the first classrooms to host Cuyahoga County’s UPK expansion seats in a partnership between the Cleveland Browns Foundation and Cuyahoga County’s UPK program.

On September 20^th, The Centers hosted an open house to show the new site off to the community. PRE4CLE joined The Centers leadership, Cuyahoga County Invest in Children, Breakthrough Schools, and PNC Bank to speak at the event that also included tours of the new classrooms and a ribbon cutting ceremony.

“The Centers for Families and Children is proud to be part of a community-wide effort to expand access to high-quality preschool,” said Elizabeth Newman, President and CEO of The Centers for Families and Children. “We are especially pleased to partner with Citizens Academy by opening this center on their campus. Now, more Glenville families have an option to enroll their children in a high-quality preschool program that will prepare them for success when they enter kindergarten at Citizens Academy.” 

“Our program provides tools and resources that prepare both the child and entire family for success in kindergarten,” said Laura Chalker, Chief Program Officer of The Centers for Families and Children. “Our goal is for children to smoothly transition from a high-quality preschool to a high-performing elementary school on the path to high school graduation and beyond.”

Alan Rosskamm, Chief Executive Officer of Breakthrough Schools said, “Building strong partnerships for the benefit of Cleveland’s children is foundational for both Citizens Academy and Breakthrough Schools.  The partnership with the Centers for Families and Children to create the Glenville Early Learning Center creates a preschool through college and career readiness pipeline that will benefit our families and the Glenville community for generations to come.”

Our next round of Classroom Start Up Grants have been issued and will be used over the next year. You can read about our 2016-17 grant recipients in our Press Release.