Allemas Childcare and Enrichment Center
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Every day, Tammy Newsom-Rawls' children gather around a row of tables at lunchtime laid out with food and child-friendly place settings. The children, a socially diverse group comprised of African Americans, whites, Asians and Hispanics and all younger than six years old, proceed to scoop that day's fare onto their plates and pour milk into their own cups. When one child goes without spilling, the rest clap and congratulate the proud youngster.
This is just one experience these children share each day at The Allemas Child Care and Enrichment Center, a multi-cultural day care center that combines high-quality educational curriculum with hands-on experiences.
"Because of the geographic area, it's difficult to find a quality day care center that includes more than one ethnic group. We welcome all," Rawls said. "And we offer individualized educational curriculum and activities, so that their daily routine is nothing like a routine."
Allemas just opened its doors at the start of 2005 on the city's east side with the help of a start-up loan of $85,000 from ShoreBank Cleveland. Rawls, who had worked for her family’s day care center for 15 years, said that she wanted to create an innovative day care center that introduced children to multicultural experiences that include activities such as ballet, computer classes, foreign language and art lessons – all combined with essential educational instruction.
Five weeks into the program, Allemas has 47 students enrolled, includes before and after-school classes for children up to age 12.
Despite having excellent credentials and a business plan, Rawls was initially turned down for a loan from two other banks because she didn't have the start-up capital. "ShoreBank has a loan department strictly for day care, which you can rarely find at a bank and they know what is needed for day care. They're amazingly personal with you," Rawls said. "And because I had a business plan and followed all their checkpoints, they offered me a loan. It was a blessing," Rawls said.
David Smith, mayor of the neighboring Village of North Randall certainly agrees. All four of his children, ranging from four to 18-years-old have been under Rawls' tutelage.
"My mother baby-sat my four-year-old until Tammy was able to open Allemas. I wouldn't send my daughter to any other day care," Smith said. "Tammy's program is long overdue. When you look at society, you don't deal with one particular group of people – you deal with everyone. Her curriculum helps advance early development communication skills with people from different backgrounds. They come out of day care with more skills than many other kids their age."
