Building Foundations for Lifelong Success
Santa Monica College and the City of Santa Monica, in a unique partnership, are building the innovative Santa Monica Early Childhood Lab School to serve the community while enabling teachers-in-training to develop crucial expertise under the guidance of leading education professionals.
The Santa Monica Early Childhood Lab School will be operated by Growing Place, a nonprofit child development center dedicated to providing the children of working families with an exceptional early education in the critical years of life. As a community benefit, RAND Corporation provided the City with funds for tuition assistance to low-income families residing in Santa Monica.
Meeting a Community Need
The scarcity of child care spots for working families needing all-day, year-round care, combined with a limited supply of trained childcare providers, has created a hardship. The Santa Monica Early Childhood Lab School will help fulfill the City's vision of ensuring quality early care and education for area residents and employees. It also actively supports Santa Monica's Cradle to Career network, an inter-agency collective impact partnership including the City, Santa Monica College, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, numerous non-profit organizations providing direct services, and the community. The Santa Monica Cradle to Career network is a key component of the City’s Wellbeing Project, which includes a policy framework and data driven efforts to strive toward being a “sustainable city of wellbeing.
For donations by check, please make your check payable to:
The Santa Monica College Foundation
1900 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
On the memo line, please write: SMC Early Childhood Development Lab