PNC Foundation funds early childhood education program

An early childhood program in Kalamazoo that will boost music awareness and reading readiness in both English and Spanish for 790 preschoolers will be possible through a grant from PNC Foundation.

Participating students are in Kalamazoo Regional Educational Services Agency (K-RESA) Great Start, Head Start and YWCA preschool program.

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and Crescendo Academy of Music will lead the Marvelous Music program funded with a $300,000 three-year grant.

The program includes “Musical Families” events, which encourage parents to join their children for special family music sessions and stories, and “Strings & Me,” string musical instrument lessons for students.

As part of the program, PNC will donate “Happy, Healthy, Ready for School — Learning Is Everywhere” kits to participants in the Marvelous Music program. Sesame Workshop created the bilingual, multimedia kits for PNC’s Grow Up Great initiative. Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street.

The program is designed to help preschoolers be ready socially and intellectually for kindergarten by introducing them to music in a way that will advance their listening and reading skills and their creativity. “Research has shown that children who are ready for kindergarten are more likely to experience greater educational achievements,” says Dave Tomko, PNC’s regional president for Southwest Michigan.

The funds are part of a $3 million investment in early childhood education PNC has introduced throughout Michigan and Northwest Ohio. The music program is the first major grant the PNC Foundation has made in the Kalamazoo area through its10-year, $100 million bilingual initiative to improve early childhood education, a program it calls Grow Up Great.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source:  Dave Tomko, PNC Southwest Michigan