Second Cohort of Cleveland Child Care Providers Transform Their Facilities Through PRE4CLE Program January 31, 2025

Quality early learning spaces have a profound positive impact on children, supporting their learning, development, and well-being. It’s for that reason that PRE4CLE—a collective impact initiative focused on improving kindergarten readiness across the City of Cleveland—launched its Cleveland Early Learning Spaces program in 2022. Borrowing from a model established by IFF in Michigan to align facility quality with program quality among ECE providers, the program offers grants and other financial supports, professional development, and technical assistance to early childhood education (ECE) providers to help them upgrade their facilities.

Building on an initial cohort that helped five child care providers serving more than 600 children upgrade their facilities, Cleveland Early Learning Spaces recently celebrated the completion of its second cohort of renovation projects. Split between four center-based providers and two home providers, the cohort included Little Critters Early Learning Center, The Music Settlement, Clever Bee Academy, Wade Early Learning Center, Develop & Enhance the Mind Enrichment Center, and Corinna Bryant’s Home Childcare and Universal Pre-K.

With IFF’s Real Estate Solutions team in Ohio serving as the owner’s representative for child care providers, each program participant received approximately $100,000 in grant funding from PRE4CLE that enabled renovations to address pressing needs in their facilities. These upgrades were identified in a collaborative process between the providers, IFF, and PRE4CLE, ensuring maximum positive impact for the investments being made in facility quality. As the owner’s representative, IFF’s real estate team defined scopes of work and budgets for each project, secured bids and finalized contracts, managed relationships with contractors and other vendors, and worked closely with each provider to ensure that renovations were completed as planned.

The facility upgrades completed through this process included updating lighting; replacing flooring, cabinets, and countertops with new, attractive, and durable products; installing sinks, filtered water dispensers, and faucets; reconfiguring storage spaces; and providing fresh coats of paint to brighten learning spaces. When possible, the team used products from Moen and Sherwin Williams, both of which are headquartered in the Cleveland area, along with products from Six Degrees Flooring, an Ohio-based company that sources local materials.

“These upgrades go a long way to foster a positive environment for students, staff, and families,” says PRE4CLE Early Learning Spaces Manager Dani Elliott. “With high-quality facilities that match providers’ high-quality curriculum, more of Cleveland’s youngest learners now have the chance to be in spaces that foster creativity, feel safe, and are beautiful.”

With 11 early learning facilities upgraded through the first two cohorts of Cleveland Early Learning Spaces, PRE4CLE is seeking to raise capital to fully fund renovation project costs for approximately 140 additional center-based and home providers. PRE4CLE and IFF will continue to partner for the third cohort of the program, which will provide five ECE providers with $800,000 in grant funding. Construction will begin this spring, with all five renovation projects expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

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