“Each day, you deliver your child into gentle and loving arms of people who pay attention to the spirit of children,” says Carmen Ramos Watson, a CentroNía parent and member of the board. “It (CentroNía) becomes a part of who the kids are and who you are.”

In 1986, CentroNía (formerly the Calvary Bilingual Multicultural Learning Center) was created to meet the need for affordable, quality early-childhood education for children of working families in the multi-ethnic Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC. The center started with a group of 15 children, and as they grew, the center provided after-school care and help with homework. Over the years, when the children became teenagers and needed a place where they could be creative and productive, the center embraced those needs too. The center also created opportunities for parents to learn skills for creating better lives for their families. “It is not a place you grow out of. It grows with you,” says Watson.

CentroNía Website