The Petersburg Childhood Education Center is a non-profit organization that has formed a board of directors to fulfill and maintain the vision of the PCEC building which will house, collaborate and offer services to the educational needs of children, families and teachers in Petersburg.
The PCEC building will house the Tlingit & Haida Head Start Center Base program, the Tlingit & Haida Head Start Home Base program and the Infant Learning Program with room to expand. The building will offer services to Good Beginnings Preschool, Eagles Nest After School Program, Petersburg Children’s Center and many other child/family programs.

• PCEC Mission Statement
To plan, construct and maintain a safe, efficient, easily accessible childhood education center for the community of Petersburg and the surrounding area. The center will provide a focus location for children, their families and for service providers. [Top]

• PCEC Vision
To construct and maintain a facility that supports children and their families with innovative and childhood appropriate development opportunities, along with providing a diversity of support for education professionals.
The board envisions a building with classroom space for the Head Start program, a socialization space for infants/toddlers & parents, office space for Head Start, 0-3 Home Visiting program, Infant Learning program and other child/family programs.
The building will include a small gymnasium, an arts & crafts room, a family resource lounge, conference rooms, an educational resource center that will have a cooperative multimedia library to use for educational opportunities and a shared staff work room for planning & preparation.
Shared space in the building would be available to be utilized in collaborative programs that would involve school age children, high school students and other community members.
The PCEC vision is to establish an ongoing financial support system would sustain the building for many years. Rents from the various user groups will provide for janitorial & light maintenance service, yearly maintenance and a part-time building supervisor who will manage & coordinate building use, and work to fund innovative programs that would fully utilize the PCEC building by meeting the needs of children and families in the community. [Top]

• PCEC History
Over the past twenty years various Petersburg family service providers have been discussing and envisioning a childhood education center in close proximity to the public schools. A committee was formed in February 2004 to make the vision a reality. By April of 2004 the committee formalized its structure by establishing a board of directors, creating by-laws and completing the IRS paperwork for non-profit status.
In July of 2004, the Petersburg City Council agreed to lease to the non-profit organization two city owned lots (in close proximity to public schools) for $1.00 a year for five years with the understanding that if the funding for a building is secured and in process by the end of the five years, the property would then be transferred to the non-profit organization. [Top]

• PCEC Objective
PCEC's objective is to fulfill the need for adequate working space and facilities in Petersburg for Educational Professionals, Childhood Education & Family Service Programs.
Space for Education Professionals: Petersburg is a mid-sized Alaskan town of 3,500 people located on Mitkof Island. Families must travel out of town by air or ferry. Specialized services for families are provided infrequently by specialists who travel to Petersburg and who do not have support of their own office or a developmentally appropriate work space.
Space for Childhood Education & Family Service Programs: The Head Start classroom, with an enrollment of twenty-two children (targeting families who meet the federal poverty guidelines) is put away weekly (the entire classroom is collapsed and put into storage) so that the space may be used as a fellowship hall. The Tlingit & Haida Prenatal to Three program (total of 10 families) is squeezed into a office space with Head Start and has no infant/toddler space for required socialization. Family service program providers are housed in many locations throughout the community, locations designed more for the needs of adults than for families accompanied by their children. The facilities in Petersburg are crowded and often do not meet the developmental needs of the children. Waiting lists are established and children do not receive services when there is inadequate space. [Top]

PCEC • PO Box 1793 • Petersburg, AK 99833 • E-mail: contact@pcecalaska.com
www.pecealaska.com is published by Petersburg Childhood Education Center
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