DuPage Foundation awards $240,000 in DuPage to further kindergarten-readiness
WHEATON, Illinois-The DuPage Foundation's Board of Trustees has approved $240,000 in grants from its Bright & Early DuPage initiative to further the efforts of local collaboratives focused on improving kindergarten-readiness in DuPage County.
"Supporting local collaborations is the right direction for the DuPage Foundation," said David McGowan, Foundation President. "We are impacting families and helping them access the necessary early childhood services to ensure their children become kindergarten-ready."
Two $75,000 grants to Metropolitan Family Services were approved from the Foundation's Bright & Early initiative. One of the grants will support the Addison Early Childhood Collaborative (AECC) while the second $75,000 grant will support the Wheaton/Warrenville Early Childhood Collaborative (WWECC). Both grants are to continue the work started in these two collaboratives for the second and third years, respectively. WWECC was the first collaborative of the initiative.
A $40,000 grant was awarded to Bensenville District 2 to fund a third collaborative, the Bensenville Early Learners Supporters (BELS). A group of Bensenville partners had been meeting around the early childhood issue for many years but recently formalized their efforts as a result of the Foundation's Bright & Early DuPage initiative. Accordingly, BELS is now working to ensure awareness and access to quality early childhood services for all Bensenville families, especially those at risk.
A $50,000 grant was also awarded to the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform. This grant to the Federation will help fund a regional early childhood hub that will provide technical assistance, coordinate professional development for early childhood providers, develop county-wide metrics and accountability, identify relevant data that should be collected and assist local collaborations in interpreting said data in order to make decisions about their next steps.
Bright & Early DuPage is the Foundation's banner initiative. Its objective is to leverage area resources to ensure that all DuPage youngsters from birth to age five receive the comprehensive support critical in preparing them for success in kindergarten and beyond. Community by community, Bright & Early DuPage is engaging local organizations and individuals to build awareness, create cooperation and facilitate access to countywide early childhood education and support services for all children and their families.
"By funding collaborations through our Bright & Early initiative, the DuPage Foundation is taking a holistic approach to kindergarten-readiness," said McGowan. "These collaborations are addressing multiple factors, and by supporting their work, we are having a tremendous impact."
"One of the most immediate outcomes we have seen is the collaborative development of new systems to address the issues and barriers that impact kindergarten readiness in each of the communities," said Barb Szczepaniak, Foundation director of programs. "As additional collaborations form, they are able to learn from those that are already established and learn from their development."
About Bright & Early DuPage
The DuPage Foundation has established three endowment funds from which income will be used to address early childhood care and education and workforce development issues in perpetuity. The Foundation will provide multi-year funding to help DuPage communities develop and implement local collaboratives to address specific barriers that impact kindergarten readiness within their areas.
"For every dollar invested in early childhood education, it has been estimated that $7 to $10 is saved on crime prevention, welfare and other costs," said David McGowan, CFRE, president of the DuPage Foundation. "When you analyze the data of low-income neighborhoods where our initiative is focused, the results are startling. Despite being born just as healthy as their more privileged peers, 42% of the children who grow up in these low-income neighborhoods are at a high risk for failure in school before they even get started. We envision the result of this initiative to be better prepared children who will enter kindergarten on an even level with their peers," added McGowan.
About the DuPage Foundation
The DuPage Foundation seeks to raise the quality of life throughout DuPage County by fostering philanthropy, connecting donors to area needs and building community partnerships. Based on the American virtues of volunteerism and philanthropy, the Foundation fosters a legacy of support for the people of DuPage County by making grants to not-for-profit organizations working in the areas of arts and culture, education, environment, health, and human services. Since its inception, the Foundation has built its endowment to more than $63 million and awarded more than $22 million in grants to nonprofit agencies serving the residents of DuPage County and beyond.
Established in 1986, the DuPage Foundation is a publicly-supported 501(c)(3) organization to which contributions are tax deductible. It was created to benefit the people of DuPage County and receives contributions and bequests into a permanent endowment from individuals, corporations, organizations and foundations wishing to make lasting contributions to the people of DuPage. The earnings on these funds are then used, in accordance with donor wishes, for the Foundation's grantmaking and community leadership activities.
For more information about the Foundation, or to arrange future media opportunities, please contact Joelyn Kundrot, marketing & communications officer, at (630) 665-5556, extension 19, or joelyn@dupagefoundation.org.