(FLINT, Mich., April 23, 2025) – On April 25 the Flint Center for Educational Excellence (Flint Center) will celebrate its second anniversary and its impact on Flint kids and families through six core initiatives that form a cradle-to-career education reform system.
These six initiatives include Community Education, Thrive On and Thrive Up afterschool programs, the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative, the Network for School Excellence, the Flint Parent Collaborative, and the Community Council on Education, all supported by robust research and advocacy.
The Flint Center was created with funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in response to community conversations that identified a need for high-quality educational opportunities for Flint kids and families.
During its first two years, the Flint Center has successfully employed a place-based approach to building an educational ecosystem that creates a network of interconnected services to ensure Flint kids have every opportunity to thrive.
In the 2024-25 school year, the Flint Center’s Thrive Up and Thrive On afterschool programs served 3,533 children at 16 schools in seven Flint area school systems, providing high quality academic support and enrichments.
The Network for School Excellence, a professional development and resource network for teachers in six school districts, has more than doubled its reach from 28 to 62 teachers who have been able to implement evidence-based instructional change ideas in literacy
or math for 1,152 students.
The Flint Center partnered with the Flint Community Schools, the Brownell-Holmes Neighborhood Association, parents, and students to design the Cube at the Brownell STEM Academy and Holmes STEM Middle School campus in Flint. The Cube is a 5,000-square-foot community hub that will serve students, staff, and the community by creating a space for after-school programs, adult education, community engagement, neighborhood meetings, senior services, and recreational activities. The Cube is currently under construction and is slated to open in September 2025.
The Flint Center piloted the Reading Rangers program in three elementary schools for the 2024-25 academic year. Results from the Fall semester show marked improvement in reading scores of first, second and third graders who participated in the pilot program,
with 88% of students meeting their assessment-based reading growth goals, and 64% meeting the assessment-based reading stretch goals. Reading Rangers is a partnership program with Springboard Collaborative, a national organization that brings teachers, parents,
and students together as partners in literacy teaching and learning.
Other highlights include:
- Implementation of the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative kindergarten “bridging” program, helping children successfully transition from preschool to kindergarten;
- The launch of the Flint Parent Collaborative, a group of parents, caregivers and community members focused on advocacy and policy to improve educational opportunities for school-aged children; and
- Founding of the Community Council on Education, a cross-sector group of community leaders working to transform Flint’s educational ecosystem.
The Flint Center for Educational Excellence is building an educational ecosystem that works for all Flint kids by providing programs, research, and advocacy that ensure Flint kids, their families, schools, and communities thrive. We accomplish this through
a cross-sector partnership to create a cradle-to-career support network connecting people, ideas and resources in tangible ways that strengthen our community through the power of collaboration. To learn more about the Flint Center, visit theflintcenter.org.
