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Vacant Grand Rapids Public Schools building to be revived (Rapid Growth Media)

"The former Roosevelt Child Development Center (641 Vries St. SW) has not been the home of regular classes for several years, but soon, the building will be home to a new, free preschool for three- and four-year-olds in the neighborhood.

The Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, a child development program funded by a $5 million grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, plans to remodel the building for classes that could begin as early as June."

Read the rest of the story published to Rapid Growth Media by Deborah Johnson Wood on January 7, 2013 here.

Read more about the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative's beginnings and work toward improving early childhood education opportunities in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Grand Rapids here.

Dreams Come True and Grades Improve at the Creative Youth Center

At the CYC, kids become published authors, leading to a strong sense of identity and an enthusiasm for learning. We believe that while nurturing kids’ writing can give them access to the world, fostering their creativity may allow them to change the world. -- Creative Youth Center of Grand Rapids website.

Do what you love, and the money will follow. Lori Slager is proof positive that obeying this adage does eventually pay off. Three years ago, with help from Cecile Fehsenfeld, board member and owner of Schuler Books & Music, Slager founded Creative Youth Center (CYC) to “give kids a leg up on writing and journalism skills.”

Thanks to a recent, generous $225,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, CYC can now boost its community impact by broadening program offerings, hiring full-time staff members, and leasing a new space at Wealthy and Eastern in the building that used to house the now-defunct Literary Life Bookstore. The funding covers general support for the organization through September 2015. The new digs will also boast a storefront and bookstore for kids.

Read the rest of the story published to Rapid Growth Media by Victoria Mullen on January 7, 2013 here.

In The National Conference of State Legislature’s published summary of recent economic research examining early education initiatives as public investments, Art Rolnick and Rob Grunewald of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank compared early education investments to other state investments, finding early education investments yield a significantly higher return than on most public projects considered for economic development.