Mission/Vision

Denise Louie Education Center Vision:

Educating and empowering children and families to reach their full potential so they can advocate for themselves, our community and the world.

Denise Louie Education Center Mission:

Denise Louie Education Center promote school and life readiness by providing multi-cultural early learning services to children and families especially those who need our services the most. We respect and preserve each child and family’s individually, cultural heritage and home language. We will promote personal and social responsibility with integrity and love in an environment defined by social justice and peace.

Providing high quality early learning services and family support is critical to the success of our community. Children who do not have access to high quality early learning experiences are 25% more likely to drop out of school, 40% more likely to become a teen parent, 50% more likely to be placed in special education, and 70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime.

Our children deserve better — and we cannot afford not to solve this problem. Investing in early learning now means we won’t be paying nearly so much down the road for “safety net” and correctional services. Beyond budgets, Denise Louie kids deserve a chance at a quality education and opportunity to be successful. Children from low-income families deserve to grow up in the same high-quality learning environments you would choose for your own children. A Rice University study found that a child from a high-income family will experience 30 million more words within the first four years of life than a child from a low-income family. Denise Louie helps close the “opportunity gap” so that kids can enter kindergarten ready to be successful and their families have the tools to support them.

Children Demographic:

Head Start is a federally funded community-based program for low-income, at-risk children (three to five years old) and families.

Denise Louie Education Center has four center site locations, one administrative office, and one Early Head Start office in Seattle, Washington.  Additionally, we have 3 Play and Learn groups set up on a weekly basis throughout Seattle at the Columbia City, Rainier Beach and Lake City public libraries.

Our Head Start (HS) preschool program serves predominately immigrant and refugee families whose children are between ages three and five, and have an income under $24,600 for a family of four. Priority for enrollment into the program is given to children in foster care, homeless families, and children with special needs.

• 3 preschool centers
• 241 children
• 4.8% of Head Start eligible children in Seattle were served by DLEC
• 97% received dental, hearing, vision and/or physical exams
• 85% of preschoolers met or exceeded expectations and were prepared to enter kindergarten

Embracing Diversity:

Asian 33%, Hispanic Latino 19%, Black or African American 24%, White 16%, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 1%; Bi-multiracial 7% and American Indian or Alaska native 1%.