Early Head Start Family Center Receives $150,000 Renovation Gift from Bill and Melinda Gates

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Early Head Start Family Center of Portland today announced a $150,000 gift from Bill and Melinda Gates to support the organization's renovation of the child care center located on the corner of Skidmore and Mississippi. The 15,000-square-foot building will be remodeled to provide full-day and full-year childcare for Early Head Start parents who work full-time, and to house the program's administrative offices.

"We are grateful for Bill and Melinda Gates' support of nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest," said Cynthia Wells, executive director of the Early Head Start Family Center. "Our communities depend on nonprofit organizations, so gifts such as this one from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will impact many people."

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant will assist with the renovations that will include three full-day, full-year child care rooms for at least 24 infants and toddlers; a parent library and computer lab; a distance learning lab and community meeting space. The program will also make space available to the immediate neighborhood for community meetings and workshops. In addition to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, the program has received grants from the Meyer Memorial Foundation and the Head Start regional office.

The Early Head Start Family Center was founded in September 1997 to provide comprehensive Head Start services to pregnant women, infants and toddlers. The program serves the north, northeast and southeast of metropolitan Portland and has a variety of program options and services available to low-income parents with very young children.

Early Head Start is a national program and was initiated by the Head Start Bureau in Washington, D.C. in response to an increased awareness of brain development during the first three years of life, and to support quality childcare for working families. Services include health, education and social service programs as well as adult education and skills training. The EHS Family Center of Portland is the second largest Early Head Start program in the nation.

For further information about the Early Head Start Family Center, please contact Cynthia Wells at (503) 236-9389.