Scottdale Early Learning, Inc. will begin its 41^st year of service to low and moderate income children and their families with a new Board Chairman and a comprehensive strategic plan funded by a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.  The early care and child education organization based in the Scottdale community of DeKalb County will implement the new strategic plan under the direction of incoming Board Chair Cynthia Livingston, announced Maryum Lewis Gibson, executive director of Scottdale Early Learning, Inc.  Livingston, a senior vice president at SunTrust Bank, currently serves as a relationship manager for SunTrust, delivering comprehensive banking services to non-profits, municipalities, government agencies, foundations, associations and religious organizations.  She has served on the SEL board since 2014, most recently in the role of Vice Chair.

“Cynthia brings a wealth of experience in non-profit financial management to our organization,” said Gibson.  “Plus, she is deeply committed to children’s education and knows the importance of giving young children the tools they need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.  She and the other Board members are providing outstanding leadership to Scottdale Early Learning as we move forward into our next phase of growth.”

The new strategic plan was created by Integrated Organizational Development, a firm that specializes in capacity building for a variety of organizational development challenges for nonprofits in Greater Atlanta.  The firm helps its clients make data-driven decisions to create measurable improvements in performance, impact and sustainability.  IOD was retained to assess SEL’s capacity to meet the changing needs of DeKalb County’s underserved children age six weeks to 5 years old.

IOD and SEL worked together to update the organization’s mission statement, which now reads:  Scottdale Early Learning exists to provide early education that fosters the intellectual, creative, social, emotional, and physical development of our students. We mitigate socioeconomic disadvantages through high-quality education, family involvement, and community engagement, ensuring that all students we serve are ready for kindergarten.

“In addition to the revised mission statement, the strategic plan addresses a number of issues and opportunities for SEL,” said Gibson.  “Among the recommendations are creating consistent, structured evaluation plans for our programs, exploring new opportunities such as transportation services and summer camp, strengthening our relationships with parents through programs like organized parent volunteer groups, and broadening our fundraising efforts to generate additional funds and supporters for our programs.  We are very excited to begin implementing many of the plan’s recommendations.”