The School

The Millbrook Early Childhood Education Center opened its doors in June 2007 and began providing the families of northeast Dutchess community with one of the highest quality early education programs in the county.

MECEC is enormously grateful to its anchor donors, Nancy Perkins and Russ and Judy Carson and to Astor for the funding to be able to provide high-quality preschool programs and services to the diverse Northeast Dutchess Community population.

The generous contributions of all of MECEC's founding donors have enabled us to operate the program at a significant loss in the startup years while we applied for federal and state funds to supplement tuition payments and private donations. Now these state and federal funds are helping us supplement our operating budget each year and will ensure that we can run a high-quality program with only modest annual fundraising requirements. Only by tapping into all three funding sources (private contributions, state and federal funds) can MECEC or any early education program become sustainable while maintaining:

• small class sizes for toddlers and preschoolers

• high teacher to student ratios

• some of the most qualified and experienced teachers in the county

• an intimate setting in the geographical center of Dutchess County

• ongoing training in research and best practices in early childhood education

• support for children at risk and their families

Even with Public funding sources, MECEC needs private donations to keep its operations going. MECEC has no endowment. As such, it relies on annual contributions from private donors to sustain its high-quality programming and outstanding teaching staff.

We Need Your Help

Please consider making as generous a gift as you can afford to MECEC's fund. Mail your check to :

Millbrook Early Childhood Education Center
MECEC
PO BOX 757
Millbrook, NY 12545