Our youngest graduates get big surprises during end-of-year drive-through celebrations

Graduation season looked pretty different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but graduates of our Early Childhood Education Program (ECE Program) were each treated to a mini outdoor celebration.

Our ECE teachers drove to each student’s house and each graduate was given a goodie bag filled with toys, cookies, booklets with photos from the year, and their diplomas. While some were a little overwhelmed by the attention they were showered with, others couldn’t contain their excitement and as they saw their teachers for the first time in a long time. (The stuffed animals were also a hit.)

This year, seventy preschoolers in our ECE Program successfully transitioned to kindergarten and are now ready for the next exciting step in their educational careers.

Our ECE Program, which served 104 children this year, is a bilingual program that teaches early literacy skills and builds kindergarten readiness among Latinx immigrant preschool aged children.

The mothers of the ECE graduates also had BIG things to celebrate: completing another year in our Adult Education Program! This school year, 57 women were served in our two Adult Education classrooms and 24 sessions were offered virtually since the coronavirus lock-down began.

Our Adult Education Program works together with our ECE Program to provide preschool and childcare while mothers are in school. Mothers in the program focus on topics such as English language development, civic engagement training, trauma-healing, and more.

Education and empowerment is vitally important for people of all ages, including during a pandemic. Learning cannot and will not stop. Together we can build a more just society for all — one class at a time, one graduate at a time. Felicidades a todos!