The south side’s One City Early Learning Center, whose mission is to prepare young children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life and ensure they enter grade school reading-ready, is closing in on its fundraising goal.
“We just received some great news that pushed us beyond the $1.5 million mark to $1,512,000 raised in cash, pledges and in-kind support,” says Kaleem Caire, founder and president of One City Early Learning Center on Madison’s south side. “More than 600 people and businesses have stepped up big for our children to help get us this far. We are truly appreciative.”
One City Early Learning Center is closing in on its $1.85 million benchmark which will help them complete their facility and will make sure that they have the resources to support their families.
Through One City, Caire has re-branded and relaunched Child Development Inc., a child care institution in South Madison since the 1960s, as he works to head off educational inequalities before they have a chance to start. One City promises to cultivate healthy, happy, thoughtful, and resourceful children who have the capacity and commitment to empower others and change the world, their families, and communities for the better.
“We have some outstanding requests for support that we hope to hear from soon and will be reaching out to other businesses, philanthropists and the broader community to help us close the gap so we can officially break ground on our Fisher Street facility renovation in South Madison next month and take our children home,” Caire says. “We want to go home to our permanent facility where we will be able to fully implement our program and serve more children. J.H. Findorff & Sons construction company is ready to get going when we give them the green light to complete the renovation.”
Presently, One City Early Learning Center has more than a dozen families on its waiting list who have children under the age of 2, and more than a dozen other families who are waiting until they make the move to their permanent home before enrolling their children. Fountain of Life Church on Madison’s south side has been their temporary location until early next year when their Fisher Street building’s renovation will be completed.
“We could only be licensed to serve children ages 2 1/2 to 5 years old in our interim facility at Fountain of Life Covenant Church in South Madison,” Caire says. “It’s been a great pleasure working with Fountain of Life’s leadership, but they will need their facility for their summer programs in June and we need to get our children home and implement our full two-generation strategy for our children and families. Our lease with the church concludes June 4, 2016.”
Almost at their goal, Caire is thankful for the community support that he says will help One City Early Learning Center, in turn, support the community.
“We want to thank everybody for their continued support and would love to speak with anybody further if they feel there is more they could do to help us reach our program, financial and community impact goals,” he said.