A new education center in Immokalee is getting ready to serve the youngest members of our families as well as teenagers preparing to head out into the world.
Thursday marks the dedication for the Guadalupe Center’s fourth campus in Immokalee. The nonprofit provides early learning to children, from babies to kindergarten. It also offers college prep programs where high schoolers tutor younger kids and earn money to put towards college.
This new center, the van Otterloo Family Campus for Learning located at 3655 Westclox St., will be able to serve 150 younger children and be the home base for the older kids. But Dawn Montecalvo, president and CEO of the Guadalupe Center, says she hopes it will serve the entire community.
“We can bring other resources from our other partners in the community, like dental services and eye care,” Montecalvo said. “When there’s a crisis, like a hurricane, or just with COVID, we can bring in the services that the community needs.”
The Guadalupe Center is able to keep costs low because of donations, including the land that was given to them. They hope to open this campus to students in the early summer.