GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Dr. Graciela Italiano-Thomas laughs as Adams Elementary School preschoolers, including Jovani Roque James, left, and Riley Ratliff, sing a song Friday, May 9, 2008 at an assembly in which it was announced the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Thrive by Five Washington will give Ready by Five $5 million. Ready by Five is an early learning program in east Yakima. Italiano-Thomas is the president and CEO of Thrive by Five. GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Bill Gates, Sr. announces a $5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Thrive by Five Washington to Ready by Five, an early learning program in east Yakima on Friday, May 9, 2007 in Yakima, Wash. GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Dr. Graciela Italiano-Thomas hands out books to a preschool class at Adams Elementary School after reading to the class on Friday, May 9, Italiano-Thomas is the president and chief executive officer of Thrive by Five Washington which, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foudation, announced a $5 million grant to Ready by Five, an early learning initiative in east Yakima.
After listening to students in a preschool class sing two songs, Bill Gates Sr. declared, "It's going to be a good day," prior to announcing the first round of funding that will be used to boost early learning opportunities for children in east Yakima.
And a good day it was for the future of early childhood education in Yakima.
Before more than 120 community members gathered in the auditorium at Adams Elementary, the elder Gates, father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates Jr., announced Friday that Ready by Five, a community partnership, will receive $5 million to deliver programs for children from birth to age 5, their parents and caregivers.
"If singing makes me warm, let's see how $5 million makes me feel," joked Rick Linneweh, chairman of the board for the Ready by Five early learning initiative.
The funding is the first phase of a 10-year pledge by Thrive by Five Washington and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates Sr. serves as co-chairman of both organizations.
The total initiative is estimated at $30 million.
"Too many of our children in this state enter school unprepared for kindergarten," Gates said.
Most of the $5 million will help bolster programs and other efforts to improve school readiness for youth living in some of Yakima's most challenging neighborhoods. Services will include home visits for expecting families and families with young children, parenting support and a kindergarten transition program.
About $500,000 will be set aside for design and planning for a new early learning center that would be constructed at the current site of the Southeast Yakima Community Center. The center would serve as a hub for early learning and directly serve 184 children annually.
"This is a demonstration project to create a system of early learning," said Jane Gutting, superintendent of the Educational Service District 105, which is overseeing the initiative locally.
"We're trying to create and connect a system for access for families."
She and other supporters of the project, including Gates Sr., met with members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board following Friday morning's announcement.
Graciela Italiano-Thomas, president and chief executive officer of Thrive by Five Washing-ton, told the board that it's not just about access, but quality.
As services are put into place, there will be training for child care providers and more collaboration among service providers.
The Ready by Five project has been in the works since summer 2006, when the Gates Foundation selected Yakima as one of two demonstration communities in the state to improve school readiness for children 5 and younger. The other community is White Center, an unincorporated ethnically diverse neighborhood southwest of Seattle.
The east Yakima project will serve a predominantly Latino neighborhood that spans 5.5 square miles and includes about 3,700 children ages 5 and younger and about 1,000 parents.
Supporters say the projects in the two Washington state communities will field test the best early learning approaches for children and families and serve as a model for what can be done locally and statewide.
* James Joyce III can be reached at 577-7675 or jjoyce@yakimaherald.com.
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