NCEF’s greatest strength: inspiring and powering children’s dreams. Here, we see three instances of how the foundation’s funding of early childhood education initiatives sparks bright futures.
Kaisley Dera
Kaisley Dera, a 4-year-old student at Fun Time Early Childhood Academy, an NCEF-supported early learning center dedicated to providing quality and affordable education to low-income families, sketches as we discuss her future aspirations. Her stick-figure self-portrait is a series of circles and lines with two legs and two arms reaching outward. I ask her what she wants to be when she grows up. “A teacher, like Mommy,” Kaisley says. Her mom, Chrislande, has been a teacher at Fun Time since 2020. The drawing’s smile matches the smaller stick figures beside her. The preschooler has filled the paper with students—a series of black crayon strokes with faces turned upward, watching Kaisley, who has taken on the role of teacher.
Chrislande was able to stay at home with Kaisley’s older siblings until they reached kindergarten. But with her third child and the increased cost of living, she had to return to work and enroll Kaisey at Fun Time when she was 2. “I was hesitant at first. She wasn’t potty-trained or used to the social aspect,” the mom recalls. “But in just a few weeks, it all came together—she was fully potty-trained, making friends and racing to her class in the mornings.” Early education programs like Fun Time empower children by encouraging independence. Teachers prompt students to take on tasks and make decisions, instilling values of self-reliance that will serve them throughout their lives. Confidence in one’s self and dreams gives way to unbound creativity.
Jessica Campbell, Fun Time’s executive director, credits NCEF with easing financial burdens placed on teachers and families so they can imagine themselves without limits, too. Part of NCEF’s funding helps cover teachers’ salaries. “If we didn’t have that grant, we wouldn’t be able to pay teachers a livable wage, help them upskill or help them get credentialed,” Campbell says. The same goes for families. Fun Time is one of the few Collier County early education centers (others include Pathways Early Education Center of Immokalee and Guadalupe Center, both supported by NCEF grants) that operate on a sliding scale. They never charge more than 15% of a family’s income. Of Fun Times’ 250 students, nearly 100 of them benefit from NCEF-provided subsidized tuition.
“Why do you want to be a teacher like Mommy?” I ask. Kaisley’s small hand grazes the portrait; she pauses and smiles. “That’s Mommy,” she says, pointing to the teacher at the picture’s center. “But also, me.”
Leonel Villagomez
Leonel Villagomez wants to be a fisher-turned-marine biologist when he grows up so he can learn about our waters and the creatures that live in them. At Immokalee’s Guadalupe Center, the 4-year-old draws small vignettes of little wood boats roaming upstream, their fishing poles raised. Beneath the water’s surface, three fish smile brightly: one red, one green and one yellow. “The red one is too small,” Leonel says. “But soon, it will be as big as me.”
“Leo is already trying to rename his grandfather’s boat The Leonel,” his mother, Brenda, says with a laugh. She works as an executive assistant at Guadalupe Center, the Immokalee nonprofit working to break cycles of poverty through education, including an early childhood education program, serving about 400 tykes from 6 weeks to age 5. NCEF has supported the center since 2002, helping fund educational enrichment programs and academic resources.
At Guadalupe Center, he’s learned crucial development skills, like spelling his name, a step associated with selfhood and identity. Leonel’s enrollment has also been important for his social development. Like many children his age who were born during the height of the pandemic, Leonel wasn’t exposed to other kids early on. “We were home for the first six months of his life,” Brenda says. Recognizing the heightened need for a safe space for kids to build relationships, explore and express feelings, and develop motor skills, NCEF’s funding of the S.T.A.R. program inspired Guadalupe Center to hire two new behavioral specialists to address pandemic-spurred needs.
In Immokalee, many families have a history of limited academic and career success. A lack of family support and a limited view of opportunities outside the Immokalee community contribute to an ever-widening gap in educational standards. Holistic actions are needed to bridge gaps between opportunities and future goals. Brenda says that besides the quality early education, she appreciates how the group involves parents and partners with NCEF-supported organizations to provide other key resources, like free dental screenings through the University of Florida’s NCEF Pediatric Dental Center. Each partnership equips students with tools to carry them through childhood and beyond.
Leonel brings me one of his favorite books, A Fish Named Spot, about a little boy who wants a puppy but receives a magical fish instead. The fish is red and small, like the one in Leonel’s drawing. As we read, the young boy in the book and Leonel beam—they’re prepared for a great adventure.
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Photography by Anna Nguyen
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Milton Solis
Milton Solis, a 6-year-old at Pathways Early Education Center of Immokalee, envisions a future filled with flight. He draws fantastic creatures and superheroes floating on the page among striking bolts of lightning and puffy white clouds. He can’t decide if he’d prefer to be an artist or a pilot. “Why not an artist and a pilot?” I ask. “They both soar.” His eyes gleam. “Yes, an artist and pilot!”
Milton divides the page into earth and sky. The horizon calls forth more lines, then curves, diagonals, shades, shapes and figures. A flower or a bit of grass emerges, then feet dangling in the air—a child mid-flight, on the page and off. By drawing an object, we often understand it in a new way. When we draw ourselves, the same insights resound.
When Milton first entered Pathways’ voluntary pre-kindergarten class (VPK)—a free program provided by the state of Florida—in 2023, he faced significant challenges. The young boy was raised in a Spanish-speaking household and struggled with basic letter and number recognition. Pathways designed a structured literacy program tailored to his needs and provided individualized attention for him in class. Milton’s confidence and skills blossomed. Today, he is proficient in English and Spanish, crucial for his academic success in public school.
Pathways works with NCEF to maximize funding and develop innovative programs like Milton’s personalized literacy strategy. “We’re also a conduit to services provided by other NCEF-funded organizations,” marketing coordinator Ashlea Hanson says. NCEF partner organizations like NCH Safe & Healthy Children’s Coalition provide drowning prevention and water safety lessons to Pathways’ VPK students each summer, and Harry Chapin Food Bank, Meals of Hope and Midwest Food Bank offer food distributions to Pathways’ families and the broader Immokalee community.
Pathways, which began its operations in an Immokalee washhouse 60 years ago, now welcomes 125 children, ages 4 weeks to 6 years. Milton spreads out his drawings like a map. “Does he often translate for you?” I ask his mother, Marlin. “He does. And he tells me to learn English, too,” she says. Her eyes crinkle at their edges, and her smile widens. Some things require no translation.