On Friday, May 26th, 2023, Mini-Versity Child Development Center welcomed U.S. Congressman Morgan McGarvey (Kentucky District 3) and his team for a visit. This visit provided the opportunity for Congressman McGarvey to tour the center for the first time, meet our staff, and the wonderful children we serve. As the Congressman toured the facility, he was able to speak with LCCC’s Director of Early Child Development (Antoinette Gray), President & CEO (Kevin Fields, Sr.) and Board member (Andreas Wotkutch of Frost Brown, Todd) about our agency’s plan to Re-Imagine Mini-Versity. More importantly, he got a chance to speak to members of a future generation of community leaders, our children.
The plan to Re-Imagine Mini-Versity is an innovative and comprehensive long-range plan to address the needs of families with young children in our community from prenatal conception to kindergarten readiness. This plan includes an ongoing commitment to accessing and improving our early education services, improving the physical and environmental infrastructure at and around Mini-Versity, and strengthening our family services component to provide the necessary resources and supports to the family unit. In addition, the goal is to add prenatal, postpartum, and pediatric healthcare services through strategic partnerships. A plan that Congressman McGarvey appreciates, respects, and sees as a real need in our community.
As the neighborhood around Mini-Versity changes, we aim to be a part of that change. Louisville Metro’s Vision Russell Neighborhood Transformation Plan, which includes the replacement of the Beecher Terrace public housing development and other investments in “education”, “neighborhood” and “people”, cites the Mini-Versity as a vital strategic partner toward helping Russell to become a “Choice Neighborhood.” This transformative plan includes plans to improve educational outcomes for children, improvement of health and safety, expansion of economic opportunity, and improving community connectedness. Quality early child development services such as those provided by the Mini-Versity are ranked as a top priority of the Vision Russell plan. As an anchor since 1975 in the Russell neighborhood, the Mini-Versity has served over three (3) generations of families and has helped to produce hundreds of successful and productive local citizens through its early child development services.
As LCCC moves forward with our plan to Re-Imagine Mini-Versity, we seek to garner broad community support (from corporations, foundations, government and individuals) to help advance development of “a new, one-stop family services model that co-locates prenatal, birthing, and postpartum doula services for expecting mothers, pediatric healthcare, and high-quality early child development education, in the underserved marketplace of West Louisville.”
To assure our plan comes to fruition, we are prepared to partner with others who share our vision to advance Black maternal healthcare, pediatric healthcare and pre-school education for young, economically fragile families. We hope others take notice and choose to be part of a movement that has the potential to positively impact economically disadvantaged children and families for generations to come. We ask that you join Congressman McGarvey, Senator Gerald Neal, Mayor Craig Greenberg, and the many other local community leaders who have pledged to support plans to Re-Imagine the Mini-Versity.
About Mini-Versity
Louisville Central Community Centers, Inc.’s Mini-Versity Child Development Center, is a Kentucky state licensed center with full-day programs. The Mini-Versity provides private, comprehensive early education services for young children, ages six (6) weeks to five (5) years. Mini-Versity’s goal is to assure families of infants and preschoolers have access to quality early education services and that children begin school with necessary social, emotional, and intellectual capacities.
About Louisville Central Community Centers, Inc.
Founded in 1948, Louisville Central Community Centers, Inc. (LCCC) is a community-based, nonprofit, anchor institution that co-creates development of vibrant neighborhood conditions within which children, adults, and businesses can thrive – socially, academically, artistically, and economically. LCCC’s mission is to advance equity through empowerment of economically disadvantaged children and families within Russell, nearby neighborhoods, and the larger community.
For More Information
Website: www.lcccnews.org
Email: info@lcccnews.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiniversityChildDevelopmentCenter
Phone: (502) 583-7352
Address: 306 Roy Wilkins Avenue
Louisville, KY 40203