Preschool to serve disadvantaged kids

Jeffrey Libby

Monday, May 20, 2002 | 11:19 a.m.

The Las Vegas Valley's first subsidized child-care center will be built in Henderson's poorest neighborhood using funds pooled by a Presbyterian church, the city of Henderson and a private nonprofit agency.

The 13,000-square-foot center, to be built on donated land next to the Henderson Presbyterian Church on Major Avenue, will serve about 200 children ages 3 to 5, mostly from the Valley View, Townsite and Pittman neighborhoods near the old downtown.

About 90 percent of the expected clients are single mothers who earn less than $14,000 annually, income that leaves them little room to pay the valley average of $900 a month for day care for two children. Most would pay less than $225 at the new facility under federal guidelines.

The center, funded in large part through Head Start, a federally funded preschool program, will open in nearby temporary facilities for 100 kids in September. The permanent facility is due to open by this time next year. The Economic Opportunity Board, a nonprofit group, will run the facility.

Head Start, through the EOB, currently subsidizes about 1,200 children in the Las Vegas Valley who attend regular preschool and child-care programs. This would be the first center dedicated to the federally subsidized program.

The preschool's opening is expected to help the entire neighborhood by giving its children needed skills early on, local educators and those involved say.

"The kids here are basically the most disadvantaged in Henderson," said Janet Dobry, new principal of Robert L. Taylor Elementary School, where many of the local children go. The school has the lowest test scores in the city, and 78 percent of the children there qualify for free lunches.

"A lot of them don't have parents who read books to them. The parents don't do the colors and shapes. The kids don't have a lot of these things people just think everybody has."

But Dobry and others say the preschool will play an integral role in getting children off to a better start, improve test scores and ultimately yield more high school graduates.

"Head Start is a necessity in these communities. It is absolutely proven to be a long-term benefit to society," said Angela Quinn, development director for the Economic Opportunity Board. "Statistically, children who enter the Head Start program are almost three times more likely to be high school graduates."

The Economic Opportunity Board plans to work with other area municipalities to open similar facilities, Quinn said. The city of Henderson was just the first municipality willing to risk the investment, she said.

Henderson's housing department, known as Neighborhood Services, will contribute $290,000 in federal funds. Henderson qualifies for about $1 million annually in federal money to help support a variety of groups that combat poverty.

"We wanted to fill a gap in the services we provide," Danielle Turner, grants coordinator for Neighborhood Services, said. "And this is early childhood development with certified instructors. They don't just sit the kids in front of the TV and watch them."

For the Presbyterian congregation, it was an easy decision to donate the empty lot between their church and Morrell Park, appraised at $335,000, said John Holman, chairman of strategic planning.

"As a church, it's our mission to serve the community and this is one of the things the neighborhood desperately needs so kids can get some care and parents can go to work," Holman said. "There's an old saying I like, 'A rising tide lifts all boats.' "