Model and Strategy
To support SEEDS, Inc. to develop the infrastructure to scale a proven & powerful early literacy training model in the Bay Area. The success of SEEDS has led to more local demand from school districts, preschools, and family resource centers than the organization can now meet. A Battery Powered award would build SEEDS, Inc. capacity to meet this demand, by creating a platform to scale an evidence-based program, disrupting the opportunity gap, and ensuring that many more Bay Area children enter kindergarten ready to thrive and learn.
The innovation is results. SEEDS has achieved what few other early childhood interventions have done: translate research on early literacy into teacher and parent trainings that produce proven outcomes. Further, SEEDS has been shown to be effective in a range of environments (including formal classroom settings and homes) and with diverse populations. These features make SEEDS unique and put SEEDS, Inc. in a powerful position to shape the future of ECE.
Impact
Even without a proactive marketing strategy, growth in demand for SEEDS has outpaced our capacity to respond to the need in the Bay Area. A key task in the grant will be to define a business model that will build the right organizational structure for scale. In the absence of this investment in our own capacity, we will not be able to meet the growing demand we are experiencing. With this investment, we will be able to support our partners to serve a much larger number of children (projected to increase from 1,600 to more than 9,000/year by the end of the grant period).
The replicability of SEEDS will be a significant asset in bringing the curriculum to more Bay Area communities. As stated by Marc Hernandez, Senior Research Scientist at the University of Chicago: “SEEDS is a highly structured, yet flexible framework that can be applied in diverse settings, and is intentionally designed to complement any curriculum or instructional program. These features, in combination with SEEDS’ excellent documentation and ongoing coaching, enabled SEEDS to be replicated with high levels of fidelity across the state of Minnesota and strongly positions it for successful replication beyond.”
Leadership
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Kate Horst
President