Urban Community School is a faith-based pre-k through eighth grade school founded by the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland 50 years ago. Its mission is to provide “primarily low-income children from Cleveland’s Near West Side with an individualized, innovative and challenging education.”

Their Pre-K program achieves this by focusing on the whole child, including not just academic needs, but social, emotional, and physical needs. Pattie Rossman Skrha, Urban’s Enrollment Director, says the program focuses on the individual child to meet children where they are in their learning process. Preschool students in the four preschool classrooms, including one Montessori classroom, at Urban Community School have access to the same resources as older students, including regular music and art classes and the Living and Learning Garden where the children learn about gardening and healthy foods. They also have Spanish classes three days a week through a partnership with Viva Spanish! and athletic programs through their partnership with Near West Recreation.

The school takes the “Community” part of their name seriously, only enrolling children from the eight neighborhoods that surround it: Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, Clark-Fulton, Stockyard, Brooklyn Centre, Tremont, West Boulevard, and Cudell. This results in a truly racially and socioeconomically diverse student population. According to Skrha, when families choose Urban Community School for preschool, they are often choosing the school their child will be in through eighth grade, so the school takes pride in connecting with the families of students who will be part of their community for years to come. That’s why the school provides support at home like their partnership with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank to provide backpacks of food that go home with the children on weekends. The school is also looking forward to welcoming a partnership with MetroHealth to build a family health clinic on their campus that will also include supports from the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, United Way 2-1-1, and the Cleveland Food Bank.

Urban Community School has a 5-star rated preschool program and is located in Ohio City. It serves 3- and 4-year-olds in its preschool program and school-age children kindergarten through eighth grade. School hours are Monday through Friday, 8:15 a.m.-3:00 p.m., but children can be dropped off as early as 7:35 and after-school care can be provided until 6:00 p.m. Urban Community School welcomes visitors and volunteers.