A new community education center serving Guilford County Schools is in the planning stages.
The goal is for the center to be a communal base that can provide flex spaces with tutoring, adult education, and community meeting rooms for students and adults.
Guilford County Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras says the project represents a multi-faceted partnership between the district, North Carolina A&T State University, and UNC Greensboro.
She says the center will act as a corrective to problems that became exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted school attendance, the education workforce, and access to broadband connectivity.
Contreras says the center will act not only as a “high-dosage tutoring hub for students,” but will also provide professional, high-tech learning spaces for teachers, families, and education professionals.
"What we are trying to do is not just assist the students that are sitting in our classrooms today, but making sure we have strong communities as well, so that young people who will be students in the future have an equitable chance to education and to improve life outcomes," says Contreras.
Funding for the education center comes from COVID-19 federal relief dollars approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
It will be located at Gateway Research Park in Greensboro and is expected to open in 2024.