Educational Alliance’s Manny Cantor Center houses a pioneering early childhood program that serves 250 children and blends funding to create integrated classrooms that reflect the socioeconomic diversity of New York City.

The 2020-21 school year holds much uncertainty, and while we are working towards a plan for safe in-person learning this fall, we must also plan for the likely scenario that some portion of our school year will reflect our new realities social distancing and sheltering in place.

As we work towards a new path forward for our city’s youngest children through our integrated early childhood program for children ages 0-5, we are faced with the additional challenges of providing thoughtful and productive remote learning opportunities that are appropriate for young children, and of making educational opportunities accessible to our families across NYC’s polarized economic stratification.

In order to bring our vision of equity in progressive early childhood education to our community during remote learning, we hope to provide every family in our school with high-quality learning materials for use at home.

Earlier this year, NYC announced that all families with children in who receive meals (breakfast or school lunches) through the DOE’s food and nutrition program are eligible for Pandemic-EBT Food Benefits. For the cost of one month’s P-EBT benefits, your family can help your neighbors access developmentally appropriate and open-ended packages of virtual learning materials. We encourage you to use your P-EBT card to purchase groceries locally in support of your neighborhood small businesses, and to donate the equivalent to help provide families in our school with the ability to continue connecting with their child’s classroom.