Porter-Leath plans to begin construction on its new Early Childhood Academy in Frayser before the end of the year, which will be the second of four academies it intends to open by 2022.

The nonprofit’s Frayser facility, which will serve about 200 children on 25 acres, will follow the 32,000-square-foot academy it opened at 628 Alice Ave. in South Memphis in 2017.

Porter-Leath’s goal is to make Shelby County’s Head Start program the best in the country. Part of reaching that goal is to build world-class facilities for top-notch educators.

Five years ago, Porter-Leath became Shelby County Schools’ sole contractor for Head Start.

The Early Childhood Academy on Alice provides child care and educational programming for children age six weeks to 5 years old. The center also houses a Training Excellence Program for early childhood educators.

Porter-Leath will soon begin construction on the Frayser location at 3060 Baskin St., near Whitney Achievement Elementary School. Girls Inc. plans a $4.5 million community garden and learning center across the street on Dellwood Ave.

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“We’re thrilled to have them right there with us,” Rob Hughes, Porter-Leath vice president of development, said of the Girls Inc. facility, adding that the two organizations have been talking about how they can work together. “This will be fantastic for Memphis as a whole.”

Porter-Leath has asked the Shelby County Schools board and its Head Start Policy Council to approve the move three elementary school Head Starts to its proposed new facilities in Frayser, Orange Mound and Hickory Hill. Delano Elementary’s Head Start would move to its Frayser academy, Hanley Elementary's Head Start to its future Orange Mound academy and Cottonwood Elementary's Head Start to its future Hickory Hill academy.

After Frayser, Porter-Leath’s next early childhood academy will be built in Orange Mound. Porter-Leath plans to begin construction on it in 2020 and complete it in 2021. It, too, will likely serve about 200 students.

Its fourth Early Childhood Academy in Hickory Hill would begin construction in 2021 and be completed in 2022. It will likely serve about 180 students.

Hughes declined to disclose the locations for the Orange Mound and Hickory Hill sites, saying the real estate deals are still in progress. The South Memphis academy on Alice Avenue cost about $9 million; the next three academies will be slightly larger, Hughes said, so their cost could be in the $10 million-$11 million range.

Porter-Leath will fund the future three academies, like the first, through private dollars, at no expense to SCS. This year, Porter-Leath completed a capital campaign specifically for the construction and infrastructure of the new academies. Hughes declined to release how much the nonprofit raised.

“Funding for these buildings is by far the largest gift and private investment in Head Start in Shelby County and is a key indicator of how much impact the program has on our community's future,” said Sean Lee, Porter-Leath president.

The facilities will have the same basic design, but different themes. The South Memphis academy has river and forest elements. The Frayser academy will incorporate music elements. The Orange Mound and Hickory Hill academies are still in the design phase, Hughes said.

Porter-Leath also plans to expand its Teacher Excellence Program to all three new locations and partner with the University of Memphis at the Orange Mound academy to provide teacher and practitioner training through research, observation and instruction.

Sally G. Parish, associate vice president for educational initiatives at the University of Memphis, said the university is excited to continue its partnership with Porter-Leath, something it hopes will be a beacon for early childhood research and practice.

“The addition of this program to the University Schools’ educational compendium moves the university one step closer to our goal of providing innovative, quality education for our community from birth to graduation,” Parish said.

The U of M has a long-term plan to extend its campus school, an elementary school operated in partnership with SCS, to include grades 6-8.

This fall, the U of M board of trustees approved annexing a wing of Audubon Baptist Church for its new University Middle School. The college plans to be in operation at the site, located at 4060 Park Ave., by next fall.

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Hughes said having four sites for the Teaching Excellence Program will expand the organization’s bandwidth. The training is not just for Porter-Leath staff, it’s open to the community.

In addition to available land, Hughes said when considering sites for the academies the organization looks for need and sites close to great educational places families can send their children once they are ready to enter kindergarten.

And there could be more early childhood academies in Porter-Leath’s future once the four new ones are operational.

“We’ve been on a long-term path to making sure we have high-quality early childhood education facilities that are going to reflect that quality, but it’s also about making sure that there’s equity in early childhood education, with access to top facilities, top programs,” Hughes said. “If we see a need, that there’s still an equity gap, whether that’s a place or program or both, we’re going to meet that need.”