What: Grand opening celebration.
Where: Educare Early Learning Center, 625 SW St., Seattle WA 98146
When: Saturday, March 27. 1 to 4 p.m. Ceremony with remarks will be from 1 to 1:45 p.m. Open House for children and families will be from 2 to 4 p.m.

Washington will take another big step in its effort to improve early learning in the state Saturday when a center modeled after some of the country’s best child care and preschool officially opens it doors in the Seattle area - the first resource of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

The 44,000-square-foot state-of-the art Educare Early Learning Center in White Center, a community south of Seattle, will offer some of the best child care in the nation – three staff members for every eight infants and toddlers – and top quality preschool for 134 students in all-day programs that run throughout the year.

The center is the 10th of its kind in the country. Started in Chicago 10 years ago, the Educare model is known for its small classes and high staff/child ratios, emphasis on social-emotional development and language and literacy, research-based practices and strategies, continuity of care, family support and highly trained staff.

The center is also now the hub of a larger community-wide effort that began two years ago to help more children in this diverse community start school ready to succeed. With public and private partners working together, the White Center Early Learning Initiative (WCELI) is creating a comprehensive web of early learning services that cover everything from prenatal nutrition and birthing and outreach doulas to quality pre-kindergarten and teacher training.

And with the Educare Early Learning Center now open, a new level of services and supports can be offered. In fact, a weekly Play & Learn group in Vietnamese is already meeting and a growing number of families are learning about how to turn everyday grocery items into toys, good nutrition for their children or what quality child care looks by attending “Wednesdays with WCELI” after drop-off in the morning or before pick-up in the afternoon. And the center will help more than those living in the White Center and nearby Boulevard Park neighborhoods where it operates because its classrooms will serve as models of quality teaching and child care for providers around Seattle and the state.

In one sense, this center is the new heart of the White Center Early Learning Initiative effort.

“We are creating a beacon of light and hope for a community, for the children in the community … by giving them a great foundation for their primary schools,” Rafel Hart, director of the Educare program, said in an interview. “It is setting them up to be very productive citizens…”

Watch and listen to learn more:

• This week’s Learning for Life segment on KING 5 TV features a walkthrough and overview of the new Educare Early Learning center.
• KUBE 93’s Street Beat OnDemand – Tony Benton, community affairs director at Clear Channel Radio Seattle and Thrive by Five Washington board member, interviews Rafel Hart, director of the new Educare Center; Leilani Dela Cruz, director of WCELI; and Vanessa Manaao, Community Learning Director. Find out what they had to say about the country's 10th Educare center, the larger effort in White Center to make sure all children get a great start in life and school and how we all stand to benefit from what White Center is doing and learning. 

The White Center Early Learning Initiative is one of two Thrive by Five Washington Demonstration (link to our Web site) Communities in the state, modeling strategies and approaches that can be replicated in other communities to improve early learning statewide.