Project Spotlight:          Early Learning

"Early childhood education is the key to the betterment of society."

-Maria Montessori

One of the main pillars of Mayor Greenberg's administration is early learning. Along with his plans for universal pre-K, he established an Early Learning Action Group that met in 2023 for several months that was comprised of early childhood education experts and members of the community. Find out more about the ARP Early Learning projects by visiting the Early Learning Dashboard.

Two of the projects funded by Early Learning ARP funds are highlighted below.

Americana                  Community Center

The Americana Community Center's mission is "to provide holistic services to
Louisville's refugee, immigrant and underserved population to build strong
and healthy families, create a safe and supportive community, and help every
individual realize their potential". 

The main goal of Americana's Early Learning ARP project focused on providing support and tools to immigrant and refugee families to help promote their children's educational successes. They did this by aiding the families in increasing their English literacy and helping them meet their health, educational, and personal goals.

​Americana enrolled 34 families in the program and several of those families grew during that time, with three babies born. With the education Americana provided these parents, there is hope that these families will continue to seek out needed resources, build strong connections with their infants, and help their community thrive.​

Family & Children's Place

Family & Children's Place      has been helping families for over 125 years with trauma healing and prevention, child advocacy, and its HANDS program. This program focuses on providing support to new/expectant parents helping them with the challenges of parenting. 

Family & Children's Place used their ARP funding to extend access to their HANDS program to Limited English Proficiency populations while establishing ways to recruit and retain these families and help them improve their lives. They were able to concentrate on providing more in-depth, comprehensive, individual needs to their clients.

One of the most successful ways they found of extending this program were the "Baby Shower" events that were held throughout the city, over the duration of the project. Parents who were either expecting or had an infant 6 weeks old or younger, could attend and would receive a gift bag full of items for the baby, chances to win additional items, and opportunities to engage with other parents and members of their community.

The graphic above is an example of a billboard that was part of a larger advertisement campaign to connect Family & Children's Place with more families throughout Louisville and Jefferson County. One of the many families that benefitted from the ARP-funded program is highlighted in this billboard.

“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” –  Abraham Lincoln

Project Spotlight:         Doula Dash

The Doula Dash project was born out of the need for equitable care in zip codes that have higher rates of preterm and low weight births and an above average rate of maternal/infant morbidity and mortality. 

The goal of these project grantees, Black Birth Justice, Catholic Charities, Change Today, Change Tomorrow, Granny's Birth Initiative, Neighborhood Nest, and Play Cousins Collective, were to educate families while connecting them to the resources they need to raise healthy, thriving children.

Agencies like Black Birth Justice, pictured right, focused on making supplies and support accessible to families in need, while reducing their carbon footprint, with the belief that lifelong success begins with a healthy start.  Another grantee, Play Cousins Collective, offered a variety of programs that enabled adults, children, friends, and families, to come together and share their knowledge and resources, while building their connections with each other and their community.

To learn more about the Doula Dash project and its' participating grantees, please visit the Doula Dash Dashboard.

“More than ever before, there is a global understanding that long-term social, economic, and environmental development would be impossible without healthy families, communities, and countries.”

- Gro Harlem Brundtland