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Contact:
Dawn Montecalvo, Executive Director, NCEF, 239-595-0846, dawn@napleswinefestival.com
Andrea Steffy, PR Counsel, Gravina, Smith & Matte, 239-272-9480, asteffy@gravinasmith.com
Grants of $10.8 Million Awarded for Immokalee Children's Initiatives by the Naples Children and Educatina Foundation
NAPLES, Fla. (Dec. 28, 2007) – The Naples Children and Education Foundation, founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, announced grants totaling $10.8 million for three strategic initiatives to aid children in Immokalee. The grants, which will be allocated over three years, will help close gaps in children’s medical services, early learning, and after-school care in the most impoverished area of Collier County. The initiatives are:
 $6.5 million to support expansion of the Boys and Girls Club program to Immokalee;
$2.3 million to develop an in-home early learning network; and
$2 million to support a first-class pediatric and maternal/infant health clinic in Immokalee.
“NCEF’s goal is to make a systemic change in the lives of underprivileged and at-risk children in the county,” said John Scot Mueller, NCEF trustee and 2008 grant chairman. “Through a needs assessment study, we identified high-impact opportunities that could truly change children’s lives forever. These initiatives will go a long way in achieving that result.”
Findings from a UF Lastinger Center needs assessment commissioned by NCEF showed that nearly 50 percent of the population of Immokalee lives in poverty, the highest concentration of poverty in the county. It is home to 9,000 children, with 65 percent of school-age children dropping out before high school graduation.
Expansion of Boys and Girls Club program to Immokalee
NCEF, which began with only two charity beneficiaries, Boys & Girls Club being one, is awarding a grant of $6.5 million toward establishing a Boys and Girls Club program in Immokalee. Currently, there are no coordinated, sustained out-of-school-time options in Immokalee where 5,740 children are in kindergarten through 12th grade, and more than 2,800 children are in need of after-school services.
The NCEF grant will underwrite $3.5 million of the estimated $7 million needed to build the 40,000 square-foot state-of-the-art center that will serve more than 1,000 children per day after it is completed. The Boys and Girls Club of Collier County is seeking private donations for the remainder of the building cost, and land options are being explored. NCEF’s grant will also fund $3 million in operating and other expenses.
“The Boys and Girls Club is one of our flagship nonprofits and a best-in-class provider,” said Mueller. “Bringing their services to Immokalee in a geographically ideal location such as nearby the high school and middle school is an exciting proposition that targets youth desperately in need of assistance.”
In-home early learning network
Through a $2.3 million grant, NCEF will support the development of an in-home early learning network for Immokalee children from birth through four years of age. The program’s goal is to provide quality care for 300 children within three years, with 100 served in the first year. The network will be comprised of stay-at-home mothers who will be trained, certified and paid to provide curriculum-based child care in their homes for up to five children in each home. Four major service providers will partner in developing and supporting the in-home network: Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA), Guadalupe Center of Immokalee, Immokalee Child Care Center and Child Care of Southwest Florida.
The network will help an underserved population of 3,000 children under age five in Immokalee, 500 of who are currently on learning center waiting lists, with the opportunity to receive services at least two years away. In addition, the needs assessment study found that 50 percent of Immokalee children are unprepared when they enter kindergarten, a problem that becomes worse with age.
“With this curriculum-based program, children can overcome the doom spiral that occurs when they enter school behind their peers and continue to fall further and further behind as time goes on,” said Ned Sachs, NCEF trustee and head of the foundation’s strategic initiatives. “A child care network helps fill the gap in early learning and is a natural fit for the cultural and economic characteristics of Immokalee where many mothers stay home with their young children while struggling financially. If the program is successful, we would look to implant it in other Collier County communities that have similar needs.”
Pediatric and maternal/infant health clinic in Immokalee
In a joint venture with Florida State University and Collier Health Services, NCEF is contributing $2 million toward completing the Immokalee Pediatric Center of Medical Excellence. The 26,000-square-foot facility that is being outfitted as a pediatric center is the Isabel Collier Read Medical building, which is next door to Collier Health Services. The renovated facility will serve the medical needs of approximately 5,000 children annually by spring 2009.
The center will be staffed by medical specialists and will benefit from the services of FSU medical students. It will provide the full-range of medical services for children and mothers, including obstetrics, gynecology and pre- and post-natal care. Florida State University College of Medicine has applied for The Alec Courtelis State matching grant to match NCEF’s $2 million, and $1.5 million will be underwritten by Florida State University to complete the funding needed to renovate the facility. Currently, the facility serves a limited number of children.
According to Mueller, every child in Immokalee in need of medical attention will be afforded that opportunity through this initiative. “Without this center, the community could only meet the medical needs of 200 children a year and expectant mothers would have to continue traveling long distances to reach a birthing center or hospital.”
Background on NCEF grant making
Based on a study commissioned by NCEF and conducted by the UF Lastinger Center for Learning, NCEF devised four strategic initiatives in 2005 -- dental/medical services, early learning, out of school and social welfare -- aimed at filling the most severe gaps in services for underprivileged and at-risk children. A portion of funds raised at the wine festival are held in reserve for these large-scale, capital-intensive projects in addition to the yearly distribution of funds to multiple area children’s nonprofit organizations to meet short-term needs.
Since the first wine festival in 2001, more than $55 million has been raised for area children’s charities. Earlier in 2007, NCEF made grant distributions totaling $14 million to 21 children’s charities and long-term strategic initiatives. Funding for strategic initiatives comprised $5.6 million toward building the University of Florida Pediatric Dental Clinic and the Edison College Early Childhood Development Center. Matching grants have been applied for by the University of Florida and Edison College. Both facilities are being built on the Collier County campus of Edison College. Construction and equipment costs will total $11.3 million and building began in October.
The Naples Children and Education Foundation was founded in 2000 by a group of Naples families dedicated to improving the physical, emotional and educational lives of underprivileged and at-risk children in Collier County. NCEF trustees organized the first Naples Winter Wine Festival in 2001. The 2008 festival will be held Jan. 25 - 27. The next annual grant distribution will take place in March 2008. For more information, visit www.napleswinefestival.com or call the festival office at 888-837-4919. |
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