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In the summer of 1997, the Ounce of Prevention Fund, in partnership with Head Start, the Chicago Public Schools, the Harris Foundation, and additional public and private funders, will break ground on an early childhood education and care center for 153 children ages three months to five years in Chicago's Grand Boulevard community. The new center will feature a state-of-the-art design by world renowned architect Stanley Tigerman. the new center will enable the Ounce to expand its existing full-day early childhood services, helping to eliminate a major barrier to residents moving toward self-sufficiency under Federal and State welfare reform initiatives. The partnership with Head Start and the public school system, the unique, practical, and cost-effective design of the new facility, and the Ounce's high-quality, relationship-based, and family-centered programming will combine to create an interesting nationwide model for the delivery of early childhood education in under served urban communities.

Quality Services
Recognizing the powerful impact that appropriate intervention can have on infants and toddlers, the Ounce will deliver an outstanding array of quality early childhood services organized around the emotional, social, and cognitive growth of children during the first five years of life. The facility will enable the Ounce to establish a program that spans the ages of three months to five years with a seamless model of early childhood education.

The Ounce's program philosophy begins with providing relationship-based, family-friendly programs. Staff require parents to be actively involved in center activities. Another strong focus of the program is staff development, and ongoing training for staff by highly skilled professionals will be provided throughout the year.

A Unique Design
The new building itself will be a quadrangle, with the four walls of the facility embracing a safe, protected outdoor play area in the center or the structure. Each face of the square will house three classrooms, with a total of six rooms for the infants and toddlers and six rooms for children ages three-to-five. Each room opens onto an enclosed glass-walled corridor running along the inside perimeter of the square. From this gallery, children and staff can enter the protected play area or the enclosed age-appropriate gross motor skills areas (gyms) also located in the center of the structure. The building will include space for parent/teacher rooms, food preparation, teacher/caregiver offices, and general administration.

A training room (for 30-40 people) will also be located at the center, to provide easily accessible training of Ounce staff and community early childhood service providers. Such training will be designed to increase the overall capacity for high quality infant/toddler education services in the community.

The early childhood education and care facility provides the Ounce with an excellent opportunity to build on existing programs in the community and extend the intergenerational cradle-to-classroom continuum of care in Grand Boulevard. The Ounce expects that the new center, in partnership with the city, State, Federal, and private sectors, will exemplify the type of solution this country needs to successfully serve our most at-risk population.

Public/Private Funding
Ounce believes total new construction costs will be approximately $100 per square foot. Thus the Ounce will raise approximately $2.5 million to build this facility from the following targeted funding sources: Federal government sources ($1 million); and Chicago Public Schools Capital IMprovements ($500,000).

For more information, contact:
Ounce of Prevention Fund,
122 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2050,
Chicago, IL 60603.
T: (312) 922-3863, F: 922-3337.