A new early childhood care center is set to open in Frayser this spring — creating more educational opportunities for nearly 250 children in the community.

Porter-Leath is holding a virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony for its $11.7 million facility at 3060 Baskin St., on Friday, March 26. On-site programming at the location should begin in the next couple of weeks.

Porter-Leath proposes child care center in Frayser

The center is across the street from Whitney Achievement Elementary School, run by the state-operated Achievement School District. One of the advantages for Porter-Leath opening a Frayser location is providing families an opportunity to easily transition from early childhood education to elementary school.

“Now, from six weeks all the way up to sixth grade, within two blocks, you have this real community,” said Rob Hughes, Porter-Leath’s vice president of development. “Not that this is going to work for a year or two and then ‘I’ll have to move.’ It provides that long-term stability for families who are rooted in Frayser.”

Children six weeks to 5 years old will be taught at the Early Childhood Academy along with a program to train preschool teachers and early childhood educators in the area.

The Frayser Early Childhood Academy is Porter-Leath’s second of four locations anticipated to open by 2022. The first Early Childhood Academy at 628 Alice Avenue opened in 2017. Work on future sites in Orange Mound and Hickory Hill is also underway.

Porter-Leath plans early childhood academies in Orange Mound, Hickory Hill after Frayser

The 16-classroom, 35,501-square-foot facility will provide early childhood education and support services for 248 students. Porter-Leath’s Frayser site was built by Flintco and designed by RDG Planning and Design, a national early learning facility specialist.

Porter-Leath has worked with children and families in the Memphis area for more than 160 years. It now serves more than 10,000 children. 

Each Early Childhood Academy location has a specific theme, and Frayser’s is music as a homage to Memphis’ rich music history. Children at the center will learn through some of music’s most critical elements of rhythm, meter, scale and pitch, Hughes said.

“Young children really learn through that sound experience,” Hughes said. “What child doesn’t experience joy from making noise?” 

Porter-Leath’s Early Childhood Academy programming in combination with wraparound services and training programming is designed to help children become kindergarten-ready and on-track to achieve grade-level reading by third grade. Studies show children who read on grade-level by the third grade are much more likely to graduate high school compared to their peers who do not.

Over the past five school years, kindergarten readiness for children ranged from 71% to 82%, according to data provided by Porter-Leath.

U of M, Porter-Leath break ground on new childhood learning center

The nonprofit’s new Teacher Excellence Program will allow teachers to take time away from the classroom to attend professional development programming at the new site. The long-term hope is the additional training will lead to more children being kindergarten ready in future years.

As “relief teachers” sub-in for them, teachers can access a training center to refine or refresh their skills. Future locations in Orange Mound and Hickory Hill will also incorporate the program.

“There’s a lot of early childhood educators who have great experience, but no embedded ongoing professional development,” Hughes said. “It’s not just a local issue. There’s some other places nationally that have done it on a smaller scale, but we really wanted to ramp that up.”

The Early Childhood Academy will also contain a parent resource room with computer access for parents who need it and can also serve as a community space, Hughes said.

Creating community pride about the school is Hughes’ long-term goal for the newest location.

“(That) This is a great school for my child,” he said. “This is a great place for my family. Children leave here kindergarten ready at an increasingly high-level.”