Posted on November 5, 2012

PNC Announces $1.2 Million in Grants to Boost Access to Early Childhood Education in Georgia

The PNC Foundation has announced grants totaling $1.2 million to nonprofit organizations working to improve access to and the quality of early childhood education and childcare services in Georgia.

Three Atlanta-based organizations — the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers, and Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center — were awarded $1 million over three years to broaden access to arts and science resources for hundreds of pre-K students, their families, and educators in low-income communities. The grant also will support professional development workshops, classroom supplies, and other resources for twenty-six early childhood educators.

In addition, the foundation awarded $200,000 to Georgia's quality rating system, Quality Rated, to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early care and education programs in the state.

The grants were announced in conjunction with the launch in the region of PNC Grow Up Great, a $350 million, multiyear initiative to improve early education for children age 5 and younger. To date, the initiative has served more than 1.5 million preschoolers, while PNC employees have recorded approximately 293,000 hours through a company policy that permits forty hours a year of paid time off for volunteerism. Through the program, PNC also will donate ten thousand Happy, Healthy, Ready for School — Math Is Everywhere activity kits to program participants.

"Georgia's children are the future of our state and have the right to a quality early education that supports their individual potential," said Georgia governor Nathan Deal. "These funds from PNC will be used to support nonprofit early care and education programs throughout Georgia as they raise their standards beyond licensing compliance and become Quality Rated."