Guests: Kaleem Caire, Founder, CEO and Marlo Mielke, Director, One City Learning Centers
The evidence is clear. During the first three years of life, a child born into a low-income family hears 30 million fewer words than a child born into a well-off family. If a child can’t read well by the time he/she is in 3rd grade, the child is four times less likely to graduate from high school by age 19 than one who can. And if the child happens to be poor, he/she is six times less likely to graduate. This kind of achievement gap is real in Dane County, and a new program is underway to prevent it in the first place.
One City Learning Centers, a reorganized venture that has emerged from the struggling Child Development Inc. Center on Madison’s south side, is poised to address the early childhood education needs of low to moderate-income families. The CDI South Madison site is the home of the first One City Learning Center with a vision in place to expand it to other neighborhoods.
On this program, Kaleem Caire, CEO and Marlo Mielke, Director of the Center scheduled to open this September for children ages 2-5, share the plans for this Center and why it is structured to be academically successful and financially sustainable. Mandatory parental involvement is just one of the requirements.
For more information, call 608-268-8004 or contact the One City Learning Center, 2012 Fisher Ave., Madison, WI 53713. Soon to be introduced: www.onecityearlylearning.org.
