Just two days after CPS released its budget which included the first year of funding towards making pre-k universal in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel today joined Chicago Public Schools and the Department of Family and Support Services to announce capital investments in five early education sites. The centers, which will open between Fall 2018 and Fall 2019, will be at Dore Elementary, Perez Elementary, Gads Hill Center, Little Angels Learning Center, and Asian Human Services Passages Charter School.

“Early education is a necessity for every child, not a luxury for some children,” said Mayor Emanuel. “In Chicago, we are proud to build out more early education sites alongside community-based organizations across the city, to provide every student with the high-quality, early education that they deserve.”

Mayor Emanuel first announced these early education programming sites in the 2018 budget as an initial investment to implement universal full-day pre-k for all 4-year-olds. These projects build on investments of both the Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to ensure that City-administered programs are high quality and effectively preparing children for success in kindergarten and beyond.

To help ensure greater capacity going forward, capital funding for the new Pre-K centers is included in the proposed CPS FY19 capital plan. Chicago Public Schools recently proposed a nearly $1 billion in capital plan —the district’s largest single-year capital investment in more than two decades — to promote equitable access to high quality resources by investing in educational programming, overcrowding relief, facility maintenance, athletic spaces, and IT and security upgrades.

As the first step in Mayor Emanuel’s ambitious plan to establish free Pre-K for all 4-year-olds by 2021, CPS is expanding full-day Pre-K next year to accommodate an additional 3,700 students.  Under this ambitious plan, an additional 180 full-day CPS classrooms will be added for this fall and will serve the families most in need – or roughly 15,000 of the city’s 4-year-olds. In the first year, expanded programming will focus on families of four who make less than $46,435 per year. Before the Mayor took office, less than 6,000 4-year-olds had access to Pre-K; this plan will ensure that 24,000 children are served.

Gads Hill Center and Little Angels Learning Center are community based partners, and Asian Human Services operates Passages Charter School. Gads Hill will support children from birth to 5-year-olds in the Brighton Park neighborhood. The Little Angles Learning Center will be built on lots in Englewood purchased through the Department of Planning and Development Large Lots program. The early education center at Passages Charter School will be run in conjunction with the K-8 charter school and Asian Human Services. Pre-K centers will also be built at Dore Elementary and Perez Elementary.

“Every child in every neighborhood deserves a quality education that provides a foundation for the rest of his or her academic career, and the Mayor recognizes that must begin in their earliest years,” said DFSS Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler. "In Chicago, community-based organizations have historically played a pivotal role in delivering high-quality early learning opportunities in Chicago. Partnering with them, we look forward to providing universal pre-k to every child across the city that will provide a foundation for the rest of his or her academic career.”

Families can apply for preschool programs through the universal online application. This online site provides a single point of entry to access a comprehensive menu of over 600 programs for three- and four-year olds available under Chicago CPS, DFSS and city-administered community-based sites citywide. All locations can be found at http://www.chicagoearlylearning.org.

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