The SIUE Early Childhood Center serves as a life-changing resource on campus for the children of students, faculty and staff, as well as student parents.
Recent state budget cuts led to increased tuition costs at the ECC, making it more difficult for low-income families, including many student parents, to utilize the campus resource. Therefore, in fall 2018, ECC Director Rebecca Dabbs MacLean and her team worked tirelessly to secure two major grants that will aid in their support of a targeted group of families.
The grants include a five-year $705,000 award from the Illinois State Board of Education’s Preschool for All program. It focuses on preparing at-risk children for kindergarten. A four-year $675,836 award from the U.S. Department of Education’s CCAMPIS: Childcare Access Means Parents in School program emphasizes student parent retention and graduation.
The ECC strives to maintain a balanced enrollment of children ages 2-5 whose parents are students, SIUE faculty and staff, and surrounding community members. With this grant support, the ECC hopes to attract more student parents to offer their high-quality services to those children and families who may benefit most.
If you know of a student parent who may want to learn more about the ECC, please recommend they contact Dabbs MacLean at 618-650-2256.
For more details on each of the two grants, the ECC’s mission and continued need for contributions, and a student parent success story, please read this
SIUE News Story.