Community Services for Children receives $50K grant from PPL Foundation for The Learning Hub City Center Allentown

Community Services for Children is pleased to announce it has received a $50,000 grant from the PPL Foundation. These funds will support The Learning Hub City Center Allentown.

The Learning Hub, a partnership with City Center Investment Corp., opened in October on the ground floor of The Morning Call building at Sixth and Linden streets in Allentown. The center, which serves 110 Head Start children and their families, houses six preschool classrooms, a reading room, Innovation Lab, motion room and gathering spaces. All children enrolled in the program live at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level. The classrooms focus on developing 21st Century skills, through STEM education, arts integration, early literacy and innovation approaches.

The long-term vision of the Learning Hub is to engage with other community partners to provide preschool, after-school and summer programming for local families, to ensure economically disadvantaged children are ready for school and parents are engaged in their children’s education. The Learning Hub will also eventually offer GED and adult literacy classes, workshops on home buying and tax preparation and other enrichment courses.

“This PPL Foundation grant will have a direct impact on the lives of young children and their families living in Allentown,” said CSC CEO and President Paula Margraf. “We know that poverty is the greatest barrier to school success, and these funds will allow us to provide educational and enrichment programs that will ensure children are ready for kindergarten and their families have resources and support to start the path to long-term success.”

The PPL Foundation awards annual grants through a competitive application and review process. This year, the PPL Foundation received more than 70 applications requesting nearly $4 million during this highly competitive grant cycle. CSC was one of 13 organizations to be selected for a grant.

“The PPL Foundation is proud to team up with nonprofit organizations throughout Pennsylvania that are tackling tough issues in our communities with innovative solutions,” said Ryan Hill, president of the PPL Foundation. “They are working every day to make our communities safe, strong and sustainable by expanding access to high-quality pre-k education, sparking students’ interest in new and exciting career paths and providing the resources people need to move out of poverty.”