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School Admissions and General Membership
Mahalia Jackson Center Now Registering Students...General Memberships Available Soon read more >>

CEO Pat Cooper discusses MJ Center on th
CEO Pat Cooper discussed MJ Center on the Radio... read more >>

From Strength to Greater Strength
Jumpin in Central City read more >>

From Symphony to Jazz to Kids
The upcoming concert From Symphony to Jazz to Kids, on October 27th, 2010, from 7-10PM at Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in Treme, will raise funds supporting the Early Childhood & Family Learning Foundation's work read more >>

Mahalia Jackson Center opening July 1st
Stay tuned for information on when and how you can become a member of Mahalia Jackson Center. read more >>



 

Our Community...



In Central City and wherever we go, we serve the whole community; children, parents, families, neighbors.
 Our inaugural project, in cooperation with the Orleans Parish School Board and other service, funding and community partners, is the creation and construction of Mahalia Jackson Early Childhood & Family Learning Center in Central City, New Orleans.

Central City is a historic community composed of many ethinicities, including African-American, Latino, Asian, Caucasian, and Native-American families. Especially since the storms of 2005, daily life can bring extra challenges here, and unfortunately, crime has become rampant.

The Early Childhood & Family Learning Foundation (ECFLF) was founded to address these challenges and end the cycle of hardships on students from such communities who are expected to achieve equally with their more affluent peers who are not faced with the stressors of life in poverty. Central City community leaders support our project as a catalyst for neighborhood redevelopment and are integral in our planning and implementation. They recognize this program for its ability to provide jobs, educate adults, provide job training, and have a significant economic and social impact on the area, all on top of its high quality environment for infants through 5-year-old children, all while supporting parents as first and life-long teachers.
Foundation headquarters have relocated to Mahalia Jackson Center. The early childhood school and other program facilities there are set to register new members and begin providing services in July 2010.
ECFLF and partners will replicate MJ Center at least five more times in similarly challenged New Orleans communities, resulting in at least six such centers across the city.

Planned onsite partners and the services they'll provide at Mahalia Jackson Center include:


 

Please join us in recognizing all of our current Community, Funding, and Service Partners (as of January 2010), without whom none of this would be possible:

Alvarez & Marsal

Baptist Community Ministries

Because Wee Care Learning Academy

Booker Academy

Boys Town Louisiana

Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development & Lifelong Learning, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Central City Partnership Comeback Committee

Central City Renaissance Alliance

Chase Bank

Children’s Trust Fund City of New Orleans

C. J. Peete Development/Urban Strategies

Community Investment Network

Connect2Educate

Councilwoman Stacy Head

Entergy

Educational Support Systems

Every Child Matters

First NBC Bank

GAP

Healthy Start

James Stark / FEMA

JOB 1

 John Williams Architects

The Joseph Group

Krescent City Kids Child Development Center

Liberty House Child Care

Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu

Lindy Boggs Center for Community and Family Literacy

Little Professor Child Development Center

Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals

Louisiana Department of Social Services

Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities

Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

Louisiana Public Health Institute

Louisiana Recovery Authority

Louisiana Workforce Commission

LSU School of Dentistry

LSU Health Sciences Center School of Nursing

LSU School of Public Health

Mattie’s Little Angels

Metropolitan Human Services District

Office of Community Development

Office of Juvenile Justice

Orleans Parish School Board & Administration

New Orleans Public Library

New Orleans Saints

Ochsner Health System

Prime Time Family Reading Time (LEH)

Rebuilding Our Community

Recovery School District

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church

Southern University at New Orleans

Total Community Action (Head Start/Early Head Start)

 Trinity Episcopal Church

United Way

UPS

US Department of Education

U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu

W. K. Kellogg Foundation

ECFLF Board of Directors

Audrey M. Browder, Chair
Reverend Irvin L. Bell, 1st Vice-Chair
Ronald P. McClain, 2nd Vice-Chair
Pearlie Elloie*, Secretary
Dan Henderson, Treasurer
Melanie Bronfin
Marsha Broussard
Millie Charles*    
Hon. Marlin N. Gusman
Hon. Walker Hines
Jason Wynne Hughes
Mary M. Joseph
Joy Osofsky
Reverend Hill Riddle
Ashton Ryan*
Madalyn Schenk
Judy Watts
Sharon Worthy
Dr. Pat Cooper, CEO (Ex-officio)

  * Co-Founder

Early Childhood & Family Learning Foundation Staff 

Dr. Pat Cooper, CEO

Connie Bellone, Director of Health & Wellness Program 

Meg Brogan, Administrative Assistant

Dr. Cynthia Honore-Collins, Director of Community Services 

Wonda Crawford, Onsite/Volunteer Coordinator

Mindy Hawes, Director of Communications

Ty Kaiser, Outreach Worker

Barbara Lopez, Office Manager

Sheila Matute, Director of Education & Childcare Outreach

Andrea Sanders, Receptionist

          Phyllis Landrieu*, Co-Founder and Development Consultant

And finally, some of our most glamourous friends are pictured here: