Announcing a new Community Partner: Escuela Viva
SVP Portland is excited to share that we have a new Community Partner! Escuela Viva is a Reggio-inspired preschool serving 143 students across three childcare centers in Multnomah County. It was developed with two main goals in mind: to provide an enriching environment that supports the academic, humanistic and spiritual needs of the children they serve, and to support the development of both English and Spanish language skills.
Over the next five years, Escuela Viva plans to expand to 12 sites serving 500 children. It’s also exploring a model where it takes its concept nationwide, and consults with center directors seeking to open preschools.
One unique aspect of Escuela Viva is their commitment to their teachers’ quality of life. Not only do they pay their teachers a living wage, but they support them with a four day work week, give them access to mental health resources, and provide ongoing training, education, and a career path. This gives the teachers a solid foundation from which they can truly center the child. Jill Kulas from Escuela Viva explained: “Our philosophy is similar to what we are all told to do when flying in an airplane – to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you try to care for anyone else.”
SVP’s Director of Community Impact, Carolina Castaneda del Rio, shared: "I'm excited to have Escuela Viva join our Community Partner portfolio. SVP is committed to strategically invest in business model innovation in the early learning field, and this investment will expand our learning about the industry – both its challenges and opportunities. Escuela Viva is a culturally specific social enterprise with an innovative model for scaling and sustainability, workforce development and retention, and economic mobility for women of color. We're so fortunate to both contribute to their success and learn alongside them."
SVP Portland will initially be supporting Escuela Viva with skilled volunteer time only (versus financial investment), to help document their process for opening and operating new early learning centers, hire an operations director and strengthen their marketing, PR and communications strategy. This will directly impact the health and growth of the organization, which will in turn enable Escuela Viva to serve more children in the community.
“As the founder of Escuela Viva, I am honored that we have been selected to work alongside the talented Partners of SVP. As Escuela Viva works to increase capacity within the early childhood field, we are thrilled to have the expertise of the SVP Partners to guide and support our business as we learn and grow.” shared Angie Garcia.
