Construction underway on Bezos Academy's new tuition-free preschool in west Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Crews broke ground Monday morning on a tuition-free, full-day preschool in Louisville's Russell neighborhood.

Bezos Academy offers a Montessori-based education and wraparound services for children aged 3-5 from low-income families. The schools offer year-round education five days a week.

Louisville-based LDG Development has partnered with Bezos Academy to bring two facilities to Louisville. Organizers said the location at 29th and Magazine streets in the Russell neighborhood — which will serve as many as 80 students — needs access to high-quality education that will ensure more children are prepared to learn.

"Thank you for believing in Louisville and for sharing our commitment in changing the world one door at a time, one family at a time and one child at a time," said Lisa Dischinger, chair of the LDG Foundation.

The new location will be built next door to The Eclipse, LDG's new 280-unit affordable housing complex. The goal will be to allow some of those families the opportunity to send their kids to school next door.

Dr. Tracie Brown will serve as superintendent of the three Bezos Academy locations ion Louisville that will educate around 200 students in total. A location in Okolona, the Russell neighborhood location as well as another in Fairdale are all slated to open in 2025. The Fairdale location will be built in consolidation with the city of Louisville, rather than LDG.

"When kids get the start in early childhood learning, they are going to lead more productive lives (and) they're going to lead more prosperous lives," Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Monday. "They're 70% less likely to be arrested for a violent crime during their lifetime. They'll not just be able to pursue their hopes and dreams, but they'll even be able to have a better idea of what the opportunities are to create their hopes and dreams."

Bezos Academy is a nonprofit group created by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, creating the tuition-free preschools across the country for low-income families. There are also schools in Florida, Hawaii, Texas and Washington with plans for expansion into Arizona and Hawaii.

Students are admitted based on a lottery system, the only requirement being that families earn no more than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level, which is about $125,000 per year for a family of four.

"This income level allows them to serve families that qualify for fully subsidized programs like Head Start but can't find available seats, as well as families that earn a little too much to qualify for those programs, but still can't afford to pay for preschool," academy leaders say.

For more information about Bezos Academy, click here.

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