Media Advisory
DEC. 9, 2010
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT BETSY O’CONNOR AT 203-339-6318 OR LAURIE NOE AT 203-332-5255
Early
Childhood
Education Partnership Forming
Between
Bridgeport, Rural South African Communities
Details at 10 a.m. News Conference, Mon., Dec. 13, at HCC
BRIDGEPORT – The Bridgeport
early childhood education community is forming a partnership with several
communities in rural South Africa, thanks to a grant from Rotary
International that will be announced Monday, Dec, 13 in a news conference
at Housatonic Community College. The grant will be used, in part,
to help with the creation of an early childhood education lab school
lab school in the Royal Bakofeng area of the country. (HCC has a
nationally acclaimed lab school that President Clinton has described
as “what every child in America needs.”) A six-member
team from Bridgeport, including HCC Early Childhood Education Program
Coordinator Laurie Noe, will visit the country next month to collaborate
with a group of South African early childhood education specialists.
With grant funding, that group will visit Bridgeport later in March
to see Bridgeport early childhood organizations in action and attend
three full days of on-campus observations, workshops and discussions
at HCC. Other features of the grant will be online courses for Bridgeport
and South African ECE specialists through HCC, and an online discussion
board that will link HCC’s lab school with the new lab school
being set up in South Africa. The news conference will take
place at 10 a.m. in the Administrative Conference Room in the Presidential
Suite on the second floor of Lafayette Hall. Speakers will include
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, HCC President Anita T. Gliniecki, and
Julianne Reppenhagen, governor of Rotary International District 7980.
Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible
education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate
programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional
enrichment seminars and workshops. In addition, HCC offers employee
and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government
agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated
and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry
needs. HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the
Dream” institution. To learn more, visit the college’s
website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> .
HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less
than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from
the Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic
garage.
Anson C. Smith, Public Relations Coordinator
Housatonic Community College
900 Lafayette Blvd.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Tel: 203-332-5229, Fax: 203-332-5247
E-mail: asmith@hcc.commnet.edu