A Plan for an Early Learning Center in the Gainesville Empowerment Zone

Gainesville Needs an Early Learning Center at Metcalfe or Rawlings Elementary

The citizens of Alachua County recognize the value of investing in our children, as demonstrated by the public vote for the Children’s Trust in November 2018. Numerous studies have shown that the sooner a child is invested in, the higher the return on that investment will be. Therefore, affordable High-Quality Early Childhood Education (QECE) for the children who need it most in the Gainesville Empowerment Zone is crucial towards creating systemic change in our community.

The achievement gap between black and white students is already prominent by the time a child reaches the third grade. According to the Alachua County Equity Report published in 2018, the percentage of Black third graders proficient in reading in our community is 27.7% while it is 74% for non-Hispanic white students. We need to fix this before it begins through early learning.

Currently, there are a variety of early learning centers in Alachua county, but few are in the Gainesville Empowerment Zone and most only operate for half the day. It is difficult for working mothers to find affordable high-quality early learning centers near their homes as demonstrated by the Gainesville For All GEZ survey taken in October 2018. Therefore, Gainesville For All proposes a new district-managed early learning charter school center at Metcalfe and/or Rawlings elementary to systemically change the community.

As for the current state of early learning, resources include VPK center, Head Start programs, School Readiness funding, and private providers.