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PNC's $336,000 donation targets early childhood education

Aim of $336,000 investment is to get children kindergarten-ready.

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By Mark Gokavi, Staff Writer Updated 10:43 AM Thursday, March 18, 2010

DAYTON — The best time to help students is before they go to school.

That’s the theory behind the PNC Foundation’s three-year, $336,000 investment to help prepare Dayton children for kindergarten.

The focus of the Passport to Kindergarten initiative is to find and promote a common definition of what it means to be kindergarten-ready and to help parents get their preschoolers to be intellectually curious.

“It’s really educating parents on how best to use the resources available to them,” PNC Regional President Jim Hoehn said Wednesday, March 17, at Sinclair Community College during a summit for local educators.

The PNC Foundation is the charitable arm of the PNC Financial Services Group, which is providing the principal funding. The group supports school readiness through Grow Up Great, a 10-year, $100 million program in early childhood education.

The Passport to Kindergarten initiative is a pilot program. It will be facilitated by ReadySetSoar, a program launched by the Family and Children First Council in conjunction with the University of Dayton.

“Given the relatively high rates of poverty that we have, unless we are able to create certain common definitions of what it means to be kindergarten-ready, unless you have communities that are positioned to provide that support, you’re always going to have a significant number of kids who are disadvantaged,” said Thomas Lasley II, dean of the UD School of Education and Allied Professions and executive director of EdVenture.

Lasley estimated that of the 1,100 preschoolers and 1,100 kindergarten student in Dayton Public Schools, 38 percent need significant intervention.

The program will start at DPS’ Preschool Academy, 329 Abbey Ave., said Karen Lombard, the district’s director of early childhood education.

Hoehn said aside from money, PNC employees will be granted up to 40 paid hours per year to volunteer in the program. He said early childhood education is “clearly the highest return-on-investment activity any organization or community can make.

“We’ve partnered with the Dayton Art Institute, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dayton Metropolitan Library and the Boonshoft Science Museum to give greater access of the wonderful resources they have,” Hoehn said. “It’s support we can provide them to give the kids greater access to these other cultural attributes.”

Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank bought National City Bank in late 2008.

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