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March 10-16, 2016 » Page 16A
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Scottdale Early Learning Center serves approximately 150 children per year at its main building.
Photos by by Andrew Cauthen
Tessa Loperfido, left, and Brooklyn-Rose Prempeh pose with
Maryum Lewis, executive director of Scottdale Early Learning.
Right, Ronan Critchlow looks at the camera while the classes
listens to a story.
Nonprofit serving young children gets new name
by Andrew Cauthen
Andrew@dekalbchamp.com
A 39-year-old non
profit that focuses
on early learning
has changed its
name for the third time.
To succinctly communi
cate its mission. Scottdale
Early Learning Inc. has
shortened its name from
Scottdale Childhood Devel
opment Center and Family
Resource Center of Central
DeKalb.
“Over the years that
name had become a little
unwieldy and it can be
hard for people to under
stand what all we do,” said
Maryum Lewis, executive
director for the organiza
tion. “Now people talk about
early learning and that is
what we are all about for all
of our programs.
“We wanted to keep the
Scottdale name because it
is a big part of our history,”
Lewis added.
In 1977, the organiza
tion began as Scottdale
Day Care.
“We were in the Tobie
Grant housing project,”
Lewis said. “We were just
serving in that community.”
In 1996, the center
moved to its current loca
tion, at 479 Warren Ave. in
the Scottdale community.
“When they expanded
to this location, the name
expanded to reflect that
they were doing more,”
Lewis said. That’s when it
became Scottdale Child
hood Development Center
and Family Resource Cen
ter of Central DeKalb.
“Our board of direc
tors felt a strategic name
change would highlight our
ongoing focus on the im
portance of early childhood
education,” Lewis said in a
statement. “Along with the
name, we have a new logo
and a comprehensive new
website created by a team
of talented digital marketing
professionals who donated
their time through 48in48,
where some of Atlanta’s
most innovative thinkers
built 48 websites for 48
nonprofits in 48 hours.”
Scottdale Early Learn
ing Inc. has three main
programs. The Scottdale
school, the nonprofit’s main
location, provides early care
and education for children
from 6 weeks to 5 years
old, Lewis said.
The program has Head
Start and Early Head Start
programs, and uses a slid
ing scale for low income
families “with the whole
goal being that regard
less of a family’s income,
their child has access to
high-quality early learning,”
Lewis said.
The program is accred
ited by National Association
for the Education of Young
Children. “Only about 8 per
cent of centers nationwide
are accredited,” Lewis said.
Scottdale School serves
up to 90 children at a time
and approximately 150
each year.
Scottdale Early Learn
ing also has community-
based programs, including
its Parents as Teachers
program, which serves 75
families.
“That program goes into
the homes of low income
families with very young
children between 0 and 3
years old,” Lewis said. “The
concept is that parents are
their child’s first teacher.
And these are parents who
are not going to use the
center because maybe
mom is home or she can
work it out with a family
member.
“We have parent educa
tors that go into the home
and work with the parent on
tools and techniques they
can use to keep their child
developmental^ on track
and ready for kindergarten,”
Lewis said.
The third major program
of Scottdale Early Learning
is Clarkston Ready School,
“an early learning program
for Arabic-speaking chil
dren,” Lewis said.
Scottdale Early Learn
ing is funded by DeKalb
County, Head Start, Bright
from the Start, Early Head
Start and United Way in ad
dition to private and corpo
rate donations.
The nonprofit’s goal
“is that children will start
school ready to learn,”
Lewis said. “We want them
to go to kindergarten and
be fully prepared. If chil
dren go to kindergarten and
they’re not ready, then they
quickly fall behind and we
have to do remedial things
which are less effective.”
In the future, Scottdale
Early Learning is “looking
to deepen what we offer to
the community. We want to
make sure we are still being
very pointed in the way we
offer services to low-income
families,” Lewis said.
Additionally, the non
profit wants to be “smart
in terms of our community
based support. We’re look
ing to add partnerships in
ways that can deepen the
way families are supported
in early learning even
outside bringing a child to a
center,” Lewis said.
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