Open Now!

In 2007 the doors opened at a brand new school in the South Bronx built by Volunteers of America, called the Bronx Early Learning Center (BELC). Two-thirds of the 260 children attending the Early Learning Center have significant developmental delays associated with autism, Down’s syndrome, attention deficit disorder, neurological and emotional issues and environmental issues such as lead poisoning and fetal alcohol syndrome.

Our children and their families face other challenges too. The poverty rate in the community served by the Early Learning Center is the highest in New York City, about 40%. For 90% of our students English is a second language; in fact many of the children come from homes where no English is spoken at all.

Many of our children come to us unable to speak or walk, capable of performing very few typical daily activities for their age. With the help of our staff – teachers, physical, speech and occupational therapists, social workers and psychologists - they leave transformed. Not just walking, but running; not just talking, but interacting in meaningful ways; and not just feeding themselves and putting on their own coats, but helping other children with theirs.

The first three years of a child's life is an amazing time of development and growth. This formative period impacts a child for a life-time. Pediatricians, educators and other child development experts agree that early intervention is key to a child’s future success, academically and socially.

To support the Bronx Early Learning Center now you may donate online. For further information or to arrange a tour of the facility please contact Rachel Weinstein, Acting Head of Development, at (212) 496-4305.

To learn more, please download our Bronx Early Learning Fact Sheet (Adobe Acrobat required).