The goal of HOPE Initiative is to extend dignity to everyone in New Castle, and that includes its youngest citizens, HOPE Initiative Director Cathy Hamilton said. To that end, HOPE Initiative requested Tuesday that New Castle City Council earmark $45,000 of riverboat revenues for “a state of the art early education center.”
“We think it’s the right thing to do for this community to help our young families,” Hamilton said. “We need to create a state of the art early education center. We want to open an early child pilot program this fall, with training this summer.”
Hamilton asked the New Castle city council for the funds that HOPE will need to ensure proper training and facilities for the early education staff.
City attorney Dave Copenhaver clarified that the funds Hamilton was requesting would be earmarked as a ‘special project’ in the city’s budget.
“HOPE doesn’t take any of this money,” Hamilton said. “We don’t take one dime.”
The city council voted to table any decision on funding until the details and had been sorted out. The next city council meeting is planned for 7 p.m. March 2.
Hamilton seemed pleased with the support that the council members showed for the early education initiative.
“The more people who have some skin in this, the more likely they are to care about its success,” Hamilton said.
“We will seek a variety of sources for funding,” Hamilton said. “We don’t want to start this and underfund it and therefore create failure.”
HOPE member Patty Broyles co-chairs the early childhood committee with New Castle school board members Nan Polk and Liz Whitmer. Broyles said the focus of the committee is “to educate this community to prepare all children for kindergarten, both academically and socially, by building positive self-esteem.”
The committee undertook a fact-finding endeavor to determine the needs of New Castle children and find some solutions to those problems. Broyles presented the committee’s findings to the full school board last week.
Broyles asked the school board to consider renting space to Head Start and CRADLES Child Care, two non-profit early education programs. CRADLES provides early childcare for newborns- to three-years-old. Head Start is a federal program for low-income preschool children, ages three to five.
Superintendent Steve Fisher recommended that the board move forward to investigate renting space to CRADLES and Head Start. No location for proposed rentals was specified.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Fisher said. The school board voted to bring all parties to the negotiation table to explore possibilities.