Cleveland’s PRE4CLE program launched a new multimillion dollar initiative Monday with the aim of renovating early learning facilities in the city.
PRE4CLE, which has a goal of expanding high quality preschool for Cleveland children, debuted the Cleveland Early Learning Spaces initiative at an event at the Lexington-Bell Community Center in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood.
With this initiative, PRE4CLE stated it will offer child care and Head Start providers “grants, technical assistance, and professional development to complete facility renovations that support the health, safety, learning, and development of young children,” according to a news release from the program.
“Currently, early learning providers don’t have access to funding to support the enhancement of their buildings and outdoor spaces, which creates deep inequities in the way that children experience preschool in Cleveland, and in the health and safety of these centers and homes,” PRE4CLE Executive Director Katie Kelly said in a news release. “We are excited to launch a new model that will support providers in every Cleveland neighborhood to make their spaces welcoming, safe, and supportive places for children to learn and grow.”
The Cleveland Early Learning Spaces initiative is launching via a $1 million grant from The George Gund Foundation and a matching $1 million donation from Gordon Gund and the late Llura Gund, according to PRE4CLE.
Grant money for facilities will go toward HVAC upgrades, lead and asbestos abatement as well as layout changes and lighting improvements, PRE4CLE said. Playgrounds and outdoor classrooms are also on the list of renovation priorities.
The Lexington-Bell Community Center in Hough, which is one of the first six sites chosen to partner with PRE4CLE on the new initiative, will use a $100,000 grant to renovate two classrooms, two children’s bathrooms and the center’s main hallway, PRE4CLE said.
PRE4CLE plans to fund renovations at 12 sites this year, and it is seeking an additional $20 million in funding to cover Early Learning Spaces project costs at 80 child care centers and 70 child care homes. A release from the program stated that a second phase will involve raising $60 million in “public and private financing for the construction of six new child care centers in underserved Cleveland neighborhoods.”
