For families, by families, with families

Carole Robertson Center for Learning

Since 1976, the Carole Robertson Center for Learning has been dedicated to educating, enriching, and empowering children and families through comprehensive child and family development programs.

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An Honor & Responsibility

Fighting for Social Justice & Equity.

Our Center works to honor the life and memory of Carole Robertson who, together with her classmates, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair, was killed in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. That horrible act of injustice is emblematic of lives robbed of their full potential. With the community we strive to help children build full, free lives. Lives that reject hate, and rise up. We achieve this through comprehensive early childhood education, youth development and family support services.

Carole Robertson

Addie Mae Collins

Cynthia Wesley

Denise McNair

What we do

Sustainable Education for the Future

Working with children today. Building generational education skills.

Sustainable learning is about more than grades. It’s about building habits in class, in homes, and in the community. It’s about learning the thrill of learning. It’s about building the skills of skill-building. It’s about getting our students the opportunities they deserve.

What do we do?

Educate
Enrich
Empower

This isn’t just for today. It’s for tomorrow. Sustainable learning develops skills that carry through generation after generation.

How we empower generations

Early Education & School Readiness

Success in the classroom generates success throughout life.

Supporting Child Care

Child care is a human right, and vital to the economic success and well-being of our community.

Youth Development & Leadership

Delivering youth programming that empowers the leaders of tomorrow.

Advocacy Research & Publication

Developing leaders today to create a better world tomorrow.

Our Service Models

Providing Options Families Trust.

Whether through home visits to pregnant mothers and infants, comprehensive center and home-based early childhood education (ECE) or afterschool enrichment, Carole Robertson Center for Learning provides Chicago families with a broad footprint of care options. We are deeply committed to ensuring that every young child (0-5) is served through high quality early care, afterschool enrichment and family support services. We have deep partnerships with small, independent ECE providers across Chicago, supporting them through funding, training, and back-office support to ensure they are delivering impactful programs that support young learners.

Flagship sites

Our flagship sites provide full-day early care and education to children 6 weeks to 5 years old and year round out-of-school programs for school age youth up to age 17. These sites serve as beacons of high-quality education, learning and development for children and families in North Lawndale, Little Village and Albany Park.

Micro-Centers

We partner with local elementary schools like Legacy Charter School, KIPP Ascend Primary, and Saucedo Elementary to provide conveninet preschool options to parents and families at their schools. These micro-sites are operated by Carole Robertson Center staff to deliver high-quality pre-k education and supports.

home visiting

Home Visitation is a model of early learning that serves families in their own homes. A home visitor, who often shares a language and cultural background with the family, brings resources and services directly to families. Home visitors model engaging and educational activities and empower parents and caregivers to be
their child’s first teacher.

Family Child care

Community-Based Networks are composed of partner sites that provide home-based or center-based childcare. These homebased programs are often called “Family Child Care.”

center-based partners

Our extensive network of community-based partners, allows us to extend our reach and share our expertise and high-quality practices. These partner programs are independently operated, but receive support, technical assistance, training, and monitoring services as members of the Carole Robertson Center “Network.”

Early Care and Education (ECE)

Directly operated Early Care and Education programs for children 0-5 years of age. As a trusted, high quality, and innovative early care and education organization, the Carole Robertson Center delivers on our mission and vision to deliver evidence-based practices through skilled, loving, and culturally-competent staff.

We offer a myriad of early care and education programs and services in order to serve the needs and realities of our communities while also placing parental choice at the forefront.

To learn more about benefits, requirements, and enrollment,

Visit our programs page

Youth Development

Since 1976 we’ve recognized and proven that the best way to support social-emotional learning and positive identity development is through engaging, stimulating, and hands-on learning. We create experiences that infuse youth voice and choice and are grounded in research and best practices. Our year-round programs serving children ages 5-17 build on the vision of creating a just and equitable society through exploring democracy, activism, and the broader world and engaging in STEAM through a highly qualified, culturally-competent, energetic and passionate staff.

After-School Programs

High quality academic support and enrichment activities during the school year at the following locations:

Little Village (2929 W. 19th St.)
North Lawndale (3701 W. Ogden Ave.)
Albany Park (5101 N. Kimball Ave.)
KIPP Ascend Primary at 1440 S. Christiana (for students enrolled there)

Summer Day Camp

Social-emotional learning, problem-solving skills, team-building through fun and engaging activities and experiences during school closures at the following locations:

Little Village (2929 W. 19th St.)
North Lawndale (3701 W. Ogden Ave.)
Albany Park (5101 N. Kimball Ave.)

Our Flagship Sites

Beacons of Learning

Our flagship sites serve as demonstration hubs where we ideate, innovate, and implement promising practices in early care and education, youth development and family engagement. We then scale and disseminate this learning for broader impact.

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