New church awards early childhood grant

Heritage — The Crossing, a new church based at York Elementary School, has awarded a $3,000 grant to nonprofit Support for Early Learning and Families (SELF) to support printed materials for a public awareness campaign. The campaign, Children Can’t Wait, will address kindergarten and learning readiness. Research indicates that if children are not at grade level by 3rd grade, they’re unlikely ever to catch up. The Crossing selected SELF because of its earliest-intervention work. “You can’t be more upstream than birth,” said pastor Andy Oliver. SELF includes educators, health and mental health agencies, preschools and child care programs. Visit http://selfwa.org and http://thecrossingumc.org to learn more.