Herzfeld Directors See High-Quality ECE in Action

Throughout the tour, Laura explained that the UCC operates its early learning academy as a school, and not a daycare center. As such, parents are expected to ensure their children maintain high levels of attendance and complete “homework” assignments that ensure early learning and engagement continues outside of the classroom.

The Foundation proudly awarded a $50,000 grant to UCC in late September that will be used to expand and deepen family engagement in the organization’s ECE programs. We’ll also be considering support for UCC’s new campaign to build another state-of-the-art early learning academy on Milwaukee’s South Side that would serve an additional 250 early learners and eliminate UCC’s current ECE waitlist of more than 120 children.

UCC reports that first graders who attended its early learning programs scored 13 points higher in reading and math than their peers who did not attend. With outcomes like that and a continued shortage of high-quality ECE slots in Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods, the effort to expand the UCC’s successful model certainly appears warranted.