Lexington, Ky - Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America are providing funding to United Way of Kentucky to expand the Toyota bornlearning Academies, which launched last fall at 10 Kentucky elementary schools.
The academies will be established at 62 Kentucky schools through 2016, Toyota announced at a press conference in the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky. The academies work with parents and caregivers of children from prenatal to five years in preparation for kindergarten.
Toyota cites a Kentucky Board of Education finding that only one in four Kentucky children are prepared for kindergarten.
“As a community, we must join together to turn around these statistics, and the Toyota bornlearning Academies help do just that,” said Mike Price, vice president of administration for TMMK.
Academies will start at 12 new schools this year, and Toyota will provide annual funding to continue the program at both these schools and those announced in 2012. The academies are open to anyone in each community, not just those with children enrolled at the schools.
Schools in Bourbon, Clark and Scott counties were among those added this year to participate in monthly school-based workshops to provide parents with tools to help their children succeed in kindergarten and beyond, according to Toyota.
Kentucky schools participating in the program:
2013:
Foust Elementary School in Owensboro.
Clark County Preschool in Winchester.
Paris Elementary School in Paris.
Garth Elementary School in Georgetown.
Wingo Elementary School in Wingo.
South Heights Elementary School in Henderson.
J.A. Caywood Elementary School in Edgewood.
Campbell Elementary School in Raceland.
Murray Elementary School in Murray.
Highland Elementary School in Waynesburg.
Trigg County Primary School in Cadiz.
2012:
Crabbe Elementary in Ashland.
Hiseville Elementary in Glasgow.
May Valley Elementary in Prestonsburg.
Grandview Elementary in Bellevue.
East Calloway Elementary in Murray.
H.W. Wilkey Elementary in Leitchfield.
Berea Elementary in Berea.
Farley Elementary in Paducah.
Boston School in Boston.