Community Building

Community Building: Early Learning Center, Primary School and East Pasco Initiative

Thoughtfully planned Early Learning Centers serve as a magnet to bring families, local businesses, churches, and social services together in underserved communities. The Evolution Institute founded and supports two early learning centers. The first, East Tamp Academy began as a charter school and added Pre-K, a toddler, and an infant program, which is now run by Ron Anderson, from the community with EI’s support. The second, East Pasco Academy presently serves infants through Pre-K, with future plans to add Kindergarten.

A staggering 80% of children were failing by the time they reached 3rd grade in the African-American East Tampa community where the Evolution Institute (EI) acted to be a part of the solution and opened East Tampa Academy in August 2017. Prior to its opening, we worked closely with the school district, an advisory board consisting of assorted social agencies, and internationally renowned scholars in development and literacy to improve academic outcomes for children so that the cycle of poverty would be lessened or broken, and to do so in a replicable and scalable way.

Parent and community engagement produce better outcomes. Our advisory board included representatives from the caregivers of the students, community groups, local agencies, nearby institutions such as churches, and residents.  This holistic engagement produced a 100% turnout for parent conferences, which is unheard of at other schools in the community.

“Children did not evolve to sit quietly at desks in age-segregated classrooms being instructed by unrelated and unfamiliar adults.” – David Bjorklund, Developmental Psychologist, author, and co-author of more than 100 peer-review publications and nine books on youth and childhood and member of the EI Board.

The pastor of Resurrection House Lutheran Church and founder of Farmworkers Self-Help in Tommytown, a primarily Mexican-American farmworker community outside of Dade City, approached EI and asked to replicate the success East Tampa Academy had achieved. Together, they opened East Pasco Academy in Fall 2020 – the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic!  Parents – documented and undocumented – turned out to enroll their children in the community’s first early learning center that provides a quality, bilingual, culturally sensitive education for a diverse group of low-income families from Tommytown and neighboring Trilby and Lacoochee.

By the close of 2023, EPA had 3 infants, 7 toddlers (1-2-year-olds), 9 preschoolers(2-3-year-olds), and 15 VPK students (4-year-olds). We graduated 11 VPK students in May of 2023 and at the close of 2023 had 16 VPK students enrolled to graduate.

2023 saw major growth between our two “sister” schools. Using our success at EPA as a springboard for expansion, ETA opened three new classrooms in the Fall – infant and 1-2-year-old toddlers. EI provided the resources for physical expansion, while dollars for training and classroom equipment were made available through a $45,000 HITI grant (Hillsborough Infant and Toddlers Initiative).

We have found that a system able to provide a safe and stimulating educational experience for all siblings greatly increases the quality of outcomes for both the family and the individuals. The “whole family” approach is being expanded in both programs to also provide access to other “gaps” in services – nutrition and family health.

Both schools also saw improvements to their playgrounds, curriculum and technology as a result of funding through coalition grants and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund distributions. These opportunities for expansion have served as a catalyst for both physical and intellectual stimulation. Through the diligence and tenacity of our directors, our total grant funding for 2023 was in excess of $200,000. These grants and funding resources have enabled us to greatly improve our ability to serve our children in new and exciting ways.

In addition to improving our ability to serve the children, the parents in East Pasco also need meaningful opportunities for work life and lifelong learning. To that end, we have partnered with Mondragon Corporation and Mondragon University in the Basque region of Spain. A representative visited in October 2019 and prepared a territorial analysis and recommended possibilities for viable worker-owned cooperatives.

During 2024, ETA became the New East Tampa Academy, reflecting its adoption and operation by the community and supported by EI’s curricular and technical expertise.

For more info about the East Pasco Academy, visit the website and Facebook page.

Main Contact, Bruce Edwards, ph: 352-437-5559 / email: [email protected]