Foundation Supports New Cleveland Preschool Plan

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), Cuyahoga County and more than 30 area organizations, including the George Gund Foundation, have formed a partnership to more than double the number of Cleveland children attending a quality preschool within the next two years.

Foundation Senior Program Officer Marcia Egbert and CMSD Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon co-chaired the taskforce which developed the PRE4CLE plan that includes a mix of CMSD pre-schools, Head Start programs, private preschool centers and home-based providers.

“We know that providing quality pre-school education for children will make a significant difference in helping them succeed in school,” Egbert said. “Your child matters, and your community feels your child deserves the best early learning experience. It is also an investment in our future.”

The plan calls for creation of a Cleveland Early Childhood Compact that will guide the work and help meet the goal of placing 2,000 more four-year-olds in quality preschools for the 2015-16 school year.

Details of the plan are available on a new PRE4CLE page on the CMSD website.