PNC Foundation Awards Grants to UA to Promote Early Childhood Education

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The PNC Foundation has awarded grants totaling $30,000 to The University of Alabama to promote and support early childhood education in West Alabama.

The funding includes a $25,000 grant to UA’s Child Development Resources to provide programming, education, professional development and resources to promote high quality early childhood education and school readiness preparation to early childhood centers throughout the 12-county region of West Central Alabama.

In addition, the PNC Foundation has awarded UA a grant of $5,000 to establish the PNC Early Childhood Education Scholarship. The scholarship will be given to a UA student majoring in early childhood education in the College of Education.

“These grants will make a significant difference in the programming that Child Development Resources will be able to provide to childcare and preschool programs throughout the area,” said UA President Judy Bonner. “We are very grateful for the PNC Foundation’s support.”

“PNC has a long history of investing in early childhood education through Grow Up Great, PNC’s $350 million initiative to help prepare children from birth to age five for success in school and life,” said Jim Hansen, PNC regional president. “The opportunity to support The University of Alabama and Child Development Resources’ efforts to move the needle in delivering quality early learning resources is at the very heart of our mission. Investing in young children, their families, and in our preschool educators is simply the right thing to do for the economic health of our region and nation.”

In addition to the grants, the PNC Foundation is donating Grow Up Great kits with materials and resources for the childcare providers and parents involved in the program.

Child Development Resources, a part of UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences, is a resource for information about the well-being of young children. It manages a child care subsidy program and provides training for professional child care providers, offers child care resource and referral information, and conducts parenting education and support programming in Bibb, Choctaw, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marengo, Marion, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, and Tuscaloosa counties.

A primary focus of the Grow Up Great initiative is to provide innovative opportunities for early care educators and parents to learn how math and science concepts can easily be incorporated into everyday learning.

In partnership with the PNC Foundation, UA’s Child Development Resources will develop and implement eight quarterly training workshops, beginning Nov. 5, for child care providers in West Central Alabama to focus on developmentally appropriate math and science experiences during the early years.  Emphasis will be placed on the importance of including these experiences in program curriculum and ways to integrate these experiences into all aspects of children’s learning.

Grow Up Great materials, including activity books and multimedia learning kits, will be used to demonstrate appropriate activities. In addition, small activity packs will be designed to engage parents and children in activities together.  These “Take-home Treats” will be shared with child care providers and parents as a means of extending learning and encouraging parents to understand the benefit of exposing children to these concepts even in the very early years.

Two Family Fun Events will be offered in 2014 in rural, Black Belt counties to bring together children, parents, and child care providers.  These events will provide opportunities for linking what the child care providers have learned via their training and shared in their classrooms with parents.

The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group, actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. Through Grow Up Great, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a $350 million, multi-year initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life. For more information, please visit www.pncgrowupgreat.com and www.youtube.com/PNC or follow @PNCGrowUpGreat on Twitter.