02/16/2009

Bal Swan Children's Center Receives $15,000 Grant from the Broomfield Community Foundation Spallone Fund

Brief Summary:


For immediate release: February 16, 2009

Bal Swan Children's Center Receives $15,000 Grant from the Broomfield Community Foundation Spallone Fund

Broomfield, CO – Bal Swan Children's Center announced today that it has received $15,000 from the Broomfield Community Foundation Spallone Fund to support the children of Bal Swan.

“The grant enables us to provide services to all of the children who attend Bal Swan,” said Marlene Politzer, Director Emeritus of Bal Swan Children’s Center. “Forty-percent of the children that benefit from this grant are children with special needs and sixty-percent of the children we serve are typical. All of the children attending Bal Swan benefit from the opportunity to learn and interact together,” she added.

Bal Swan Children’s Center is a private non-profit (501c3) preschool that serves children with all types of disabilities blended in the classroom with typical preschoolers. We serve about 300 children a year, ages birth through twelve-years-old. Our students are from Boulder, Superior, Louisville, Lafayette, Erie, Broomfield, Arvada, Northglenn, Thornton, Federal Heights and Westminster.

The students with disabilities receive full therapy services in speech therapy, occupational-motor therapy, physical therapy, and warm-water pool therapy. Children with disabilities who qualify through our funding agencies receive services at no cost to their families. Parents of typical children pay tuition just as they would for any preschool in town.

Bal Swan Children’s Center was the first school in State of Colorado to enroll typical students with children who have special needs. We became a pilot program for the state in 1963 and again in 1973. Our Center’s innovative idea of inclusion in the classroom is now required of all centers such as ours.

Bal Swan Children's Center is proud to be one of only 35 early childhood environments in the State of Colorado and the only preschool in Broomfield to have received a 4-out-of-4-star rating from Qualistar!

Over the years Bal Swan Children's Center’s goals have remained the same. Our priorities are:

Inclusive environment
Address the unique needs of children with traditional and special needs, fostering understanding, acceptance and the embracing of all types of diversities


Professional, specialized staff
Team of devoted, professional teachers and therapists experienced in collaborating to meet each child’s unique needs

Superior on-site resources
Facility that encourages learning and development through indoor and outdoor play, educational classrooms and on-site therapy resources

Collaborative approach to teaching
Leverage insight and communication among teacher, therapist, family and Bal Swan community of families to create curriculum to better serve the child

Total-person development
Commitment to a child’s 360 development: intellectual, emotional, cognitive, language, self-help, physical and social

All of this – the day to day program as well as the new building addition – would not be possible without parents, volunteers, corporations and philanthropic organizations, who donate time or money to the school’s operations and fundraising efforts.

The Broomfield Community Foundation’s mission is to develop charitable giving to support Civic Projects, Human Services, Arts & Humanities, Seniors and Education to benefit Broomfield Citizens. The Foundation’s vision is to build a community with heart.

“The Foundation is happy to support the children of Bal Swan who benefit from such a quality program,” said Karen Smith the Broomfield Community Foundation’s Executive Director.

For more information about Bal Swan Children's Center, call 303-466-6308 or visit www.balswan.org.