Project Description
COA and the Amani neighborhood celebrated the groundbreaking for the new Burke Early Education Center at COA Youth & Family Centers’ Goldin Center on Friday, April 17th.
The event marked the start of construction for COA’s second early child education center, which was made possible by a $2 million capital grant from The Burke Foundation as well as support from The Richard & Ethel Herzfeld Foundation.
A number of funding and neighborhood revitalization partners joined us for the event, including Kathy Burke Seiberlich and Deanne Singh of The Burke Foundation, Tim Coughlin of United Way, Bob Duncan of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, LaQuondra Shaw of Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Patricia Rogers of the Dominican Center for Women, and representatives from the Amani United neighborhood association. A special thank you to Berghammer Construction, Groth Design and John Mann for their involvement in the construction of the new Burke Early Education Center (EEC).
The Burke EEC is scheduled to open in July and will have enrollment capacity for 116 children. COA has operated an early education program at its Riverwest Center since 1981. The center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and holds a five-star rating from YoungStar, Wisconsin’s child care rating system. “The Burke Center is modeled after the Riverwest program and will bring quality early child development and education to families and children who are in dire need of programs that will help them be healthy, school-ready, and have the opportunity to achieve long-term academic success,” said Ashley Harrell, COA’s Director of the Burke EEC.