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First Annual Greenman Gift Presented to The Child & Family Network Centers by Bright Horizons Family Solutions

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Bright Horizons Family Solutions® and the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children today announced that The Child & Family Network Centers (CFNC) is the first recipient of the annual Greenman Gift.

The Greenman Gift was developed to honor the legacy of early educator, visionary, and advocate, Jim Greenman, who designed and oversaw Bright Horizons' early education programs and who served as the Chairman of the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children. The Greenman Gift will extend the opportunity for one child care center a year to benefit from a special grant from the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children to improve their facility in his honor. Through a gift from Bright Horizons Family Solutions, this grant will be provided to centers serving primarily low and middle income families and striving for excellence in quality child care and early education.

"The breadth, depth, and reach of Jim's work alone will leave an everlasting legacy for children and early educators. But Jim was never satisfied with the success of his most recent project or initiative. He always had a dozen more he was cooking up, ready to push the limits of imagination, commitment and change. So it is only fitting that we cannot be satisfied to sit back and simply admire Jim's work. Instead, he has inspired us to take action and thus was born the Greenman Gift. This month, the first annual Greenman Gift was presented to CFNC, an outstanding organization that would have made Jim proud," said Bright Horizons Chief Executive Officer and Bright Horizons Foundation for Children Board Member David Lissy.

The Child and Family Network Centers was founded 25 years ago by a group of 17 parents living in a public housing project outside Washington, DC, who were shocked to learn that their children would not be able to advance from Kindergarten. These children had not had the benefit of preschool or any early education, and their parents were determined to change that. Today, CFNC serves nearly 200 children at five NAEYC (National Association of the Education of Young Children) accredited preschool programs in Virginia. They also provide educational opportunities for parents, offering English as a Second Language and family literacy courses, and support families with health care, case management and job placement services.

"The Jim Greenman Gift has allowed us to transform our Family Literacy Room into a caring and learning space where parents are able learn how to become partners in their child's education and make family reading part of their every day lives. We are honored to be the first recipient and proud to be part of Jim's legacy," said CFNC CEO and Executive Director Barbara Fox Mason.

The grant was used to renovate the organization's Family Literacy Room where parents learning English as a Second Language now have a modern and comfortable classroom complete with new computers to help parents in job training and job search efforts. A portion of the grant will also be used to upgrade the organization's technology infrastructure.

"I just wanted to say, on behalf of all of my classmates, that we're very grateful for what this man has done. We commit ourselves to continuing on what he has left to demonstrate that his work is working and is giving the result. So we're going to work hard to learn and do the best we can," said Alicia Villatoro, CFNC student and mother.

Jim's daughter, Emma Greenman, who helped with the installation and dedication of the room said, "It is really fitting that this will be part of my Dad's legacy - a living space that is about kids who really need it and kids who really deserve it. This gift, which creates a space that is interactive and participatory with an ongoing relationship, goes back to the very reason my dad got into child care. It goes back to what he was passionate about, and I think he really would have loved it."

The author of "Caring Spaces and Learning Places," and instructor at the Harvard University School of Design, Jim Greenman knew the value of dynamic environments for children, their teachers, and their families - from gentle book nooks in the toddler classrooms, to preschools' dramatic play corners, to the spots on playgrounds dedicated to the exploration by even the youngest infants, and to resources rooms for teachers and families. Jim was devoted to creating these spaces in Bright Horizons centers and in places serving children in need around the world. Jim passed away in April of this year after a valiant battle with Multiple Myeloma.

About Bright Horizons Family Solutions®

Bright Horizons Family Solutions® (www.brighthorizons.com) is the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, education, and work/life solutions. The company operates more than 700 child care and early education centers across the U.S., in Europe, and Canada. Bright Horizons was recently named one of FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" for the tenth time.

About The Child & Family Network Centers

Based in Alexandria, Virginia, The Child & Family Network Centers provides caring, high-quality free education and related services to at-risk children and families in their own neighborhoods to prepare and empower them for success in school and life. The organization also provides ESL and literacy support for parents and health services for the whole family.

About the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children

The Bright Horizons Foundation for Children was founded in 1999 to help forward the vision of Bright Horizons to make a difference in the lives of children and families. Bright Spaces is a program of the Foundation, creating dedicated play areas in homeless shelters and agencies serving children in crisis. More information is at www.brighthorizonsfoundation.org.

    For more information contact:
    Ilene Serpa
    617-673-8044
    iserpa@brighthorizons.com

    Sandra Fleming
    703-836-0214, ext. 235
    sfleming@cfnc-online.org

SOURCE Bright Horizons Family Solutions