TLA News

Kindergarten Readiness Collaborative to Merge with The Learning Alliance

Topic: 
April 1, 2020

The Learning Alliance (TLA) today announced a merger with the Kindergarten Readiness Collaborative (KRC) effective April 1, 2020. Including KRC within the TLA organization will help establish a continuum of services for children from birth to eight years old in Indian River County.

“This merger will allow both organizations to better focus their combined resources in preparing children for school by uniting under a single umbrella,” said Ray Oglethorpe, Chair of TLA.

The Board of KRC formally asked TLA to consider merging KRC into TLA in a September 23, 2019 letter to the TLA Board. TLA investigated the opportunity and subsequently determined that the combination was not only a strategic fit but would actively advance the mission of TLA and our Moonshot Moment campaign to ensure that all children are reading for kindergarten and that 90% of children are reading on grade level by the end of third grade. The integrated model will lead to a more efficient use of resources to make a significant impact to improve literacy in ages 0-8 county-wide.

Barbara Hammond, CEO of TLA said, “KRC’s mission aligns with ours, and the merger will ensure accelerated outcomes and more efficiency in existing services for children from birth to 8 years old. KRC’s collaborative model in service of the Moonshot Moment mission, will expand our reach within our Moonshot Community and also support the ongoing work of our common local partners to create greater impact for children and families in Indian River County.”

Dr. Fran Adams, Chair of KRC and member of the Moonshot Community Action Network (MCAN) said, “KRC was formed to support children before they enter kindergarten and for the past six years has worked side by side with TLA and many other nonprofits in the County to develop a family-centered, high quality early education system. We on the KRC Board and in MCAN are excited that these two organizations will combine to create an even more compelling model.”

“Our team is extremely proud of the strides we have made in the last two years in Indian River County, particularly in Fellsmere and Gifford. The prospect of reaching even more families and preparing little ones for kindergarten as part of TLA is very exciting,” said Dr. Nivea Torres, Executive Director of KRC.