By Staff
NEW ORLEANS (BCM) – Baptist Community Ministries has partnered with three New Orleans organizations to provide a $3 million grant that will be used to advocate for greater access to early childhood education in the city.
According to a news release from the organization, the money will be distributed to New Orleans Baptist Association, Agenda for Children and Louisiana Policy Institute over the next three years and will strive to add enough seats in a classroom to accommodate all children ages 0-5 that live in neighborhoods where early childhood education centers are located.
More than 68 percent of children in New Orleans’ most vulnerable neighborhoods live in households below the ALICE Threshold, representing the minimum income level necessary for survival. Their families cannot afford housing, health care, food, transportation, and child care. By advocating for quality early childhood education seats, working families will have a stable environment for their children to receive a holistic educational experience while helping parents to be able to work normal hours and miss fewer workdays.
“All of our city’s early learners deserve safe, supportive, educational environments, and that need is even more critical for children in low-income and marginalized communities,” said BCM President and CEO Inman J. Houston said in a news release. “We are grateful to partner with some incredible organizations to bolster early childhood education programming at a time when the need is greater than ever.”
Through the partnership, New Orleans Baptist Association will facilitate a learning collaborative with local faith-based early childhood education centers.
“We commend BCM for recognizing the potential in churches to meet our community’s growing needs for early childhood education space and workers,” said Jack Hunter, executive director of New Orleans Baptist Association. “We are eager to work to enmesh this initiative into already existing institutions of grassroots family support.”
Agenda for Children and Louisiana Policy Institute for Children strategically prioritize important facets of early childhood education, such as giving workforce preparation, providing consistent professional development and skill-building opportunities, and encouraging long-term field retention for teachers.
“We are grateful and honored to be included in BCM’s investment alongside two key partners in the early care and education sector,” said Jennifer Roberts, CEO of Agenda for Children. “We are eager to work with them to support our partners, colleagues, and community in understanding the essentialness of a child’s first 1,000 days and increasing access to high-quality early care and education for all children across our region.”
Libbie Sonnier, Executive Director of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, added: “We are thrilled by this strategic investment of BCM, which will allow us to continue to advocate on behalf of Louisiana’s young children in new and innovative ways. Working in partnership with passionate groups like BCM, our fellow grantees, and others is how we will ensure a Louisiana in which all children have what they need to be ready for success in school and in life.”
