Sheltering Arms, the Atlanta-based non-profit agency that provides high-quality early childhood education and family support services, announced today that it has successfully completed its D.H. Stanton capital campaign.
 
The agency raised $8.4 million to construct a new early education and family center on the campus of D.H. Stanton Elementary School in the Peoplestown community. Significant support for the center came from Invest Atlanta, the City of Atlanta’s Economic Development Authority, and Bank of America through the new markets tax credit program. Other contributions included a lead gift from The Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, and generous support from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, The James M. Cox Foundation, The Marcus Foundation and the Tull Charitable Foundation, along with more than 150 community and corporate supporters.
 
“Bank of America Merrill Lynch is proud to provide $3 million in New Markets Tax Credit equity to Sheltering Arms to help fund the construction of the new D.H. Stanton learning center,” said Mary Thompson, Senior Vice President of Community Development Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  “Sheltering Arms’ mission of serving working families by providing high-quality, affordable child care and education and comprehensive support services fits with the bank’s goal to create stronger communities through lending, investing and giving.”
 
The new 27,000 square-foot environmentally-friendly building is expected to open in the fall and will serve approximately 200 children and their families. As Sheltering Arms’ 16th location in metropolitan Atlanta, the center will provide holistic family support services that address a family’s needs from an educational, health, social capital and economic perspective. It will also serve as a key component of the “cradle-to-college” pipeline and impact Peoplestown’s urban renewal and economic development.
 
“We’re excited about the new center at D.H. Stanton because it expands our capacity to give more children, regardless of background, the opportunity for a top-notch early education, childhood and future,” said Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO of Sheltering Arms. “Eighty-five percent of a child’s brain structure is developed by age three, and what they experience up to that point already has a profound effect on their educational, social and physical potential. Our goal is to transform early childhood education in a way that it not only builds stronger children, but stronger families and communities as well.”