16 Dec Carrie J. Loose Trust Awards $100,000 Grant to United Inner City Services (UICS)

United Inner City Services (UICS) was recently awarded a $100,000 grant from the Carrie J. Loose Trust to provide general operating support for its early childhood education programs at St. Mark Center and the new location, Metro Center.

Funds will support approximately 275 children and their families through the following services:

• Early Education: Infants, Toddlers, and Preschool including Early Head Start and Head Start, and wrap-around care from 6:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Arts@St.Mark: Arts infused into curriculum and extended to families through family events and experiences in the arts
• Wrap-Around Supports: Caring family advocates to help families through crisis, healthy meals prepared by an on-site chef, extended care hours, and a variety of engagement activities
• Student Success: Professional development, coaching, and early behavioral intervention offered on-site

UICS addresses the need for high-quality early childhood education within the context of poverty’s considerable challenges.  Across the United States, educational achievement gaps between children are deeply rooted in racial and income disparity. By the time children reach kindergarten, dramatic socio-economic and racial school-readiness gaps are deeply entrenched.  There is a remedy for the achievement gap. High-quality early childhood educational programs, like those UICS offers, interrupt negative statistical trajectories. Despite challenges of poverty, the St. Mark Center has developed an effective model which graduates more than 90% of students to be “kindergarten ready,” as measured by the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP), the Missouri-adopted kindergarten readiness assessment.

United Inner City Services (UICS) is a multi-service community based agency that has served Kansas City, Missouri’s 12th Street corridor since 1967. Over the years, UICS has addressed the issues of the urban core including employment, emergency assistance, housing, violence intervention, early childhood education and youth services.  UICS serves as a neighborhood anchor, providing a safe, warm, and inviting site for a variety of social services, early education programs, community arts programs, and neighborhood outreach.