Our Story
From humble beginnings to a thriving community, our story reflects the dedication and love poured into creating a nurturing environment for the little ones in our care.
Corban
cor·ban [kȯr-ËŒban]
Noun
: A gift from God dedicated back to God.
Since 2011, a heart-held desire to create a community where children and their caregivers grow and flourish has been incubating at Corban Early Learning Center.
A community of welcome and emotional safety that honors their respective places on the life continuum and developmental journey each of us is on.
We wondered, “What if we could find optimal ways to support the growth and well-being of the most important people in a child’s life? How would that impact our approach to the world's most important and possibly undervalued job: Caring for young children?
So, we set out to create an honoring culture where everyone is both a contributor and beneficiary, providing children with nourishment they can draw from their entire lives.
Creating an environment where everyone is supported and thrives was a bit of an ideal experiment, and it just so happened that the ideal building was sitting empty and decaying right in the heart of the community. And it belonged to the City of Cincinnati.
We shared our ideas with them and pointed to the data that child poverty was - and is - a big issue in our city. It is well documented that an influential trajectory out of poverty is the foundation of quality early childhood education.
The caregiver is at the heart of that story.
To prove we were serious and here to stay, we signed a lease purchase agreement with the City, invested several hundred thousand dollars in the building, and spent three years going through the rigorous certification processes.
Today, we are a Five Star Step-Up-To-Quality, loving learning community, doing life together, the Corban Way.
And we are just getting started.
Looking back on our journey, what it has taken to get here is astonishing. We’ve learned that unlearning is as necessary as new learning, and doing better often requires undoing what we thought was right. And it's easy to see that while not easy, we didn’t do it alone, our village is expanding.
Our first teacher, my son Ryan, is now a supervisor in the Los Angeles Public School District, and our first enrolled infant, DaShawn, now 10 years old, still calls me YiYi today—once family - always family. We are blessed to have many of our graduates return to show us the love and how much they have grown. That is our greatest reward.
Another astonishing reality is not everyone shares our values: children, families, and the greater good. Child poverty continues to increase, and segments of the community remain inequitably treated.
While we have long fulfilled our commitments to the city, we are still waiting for them to transfer the property to us. The neighborhood around us sees more development; we ask why we are still waiting.
Our work continues with faith and confidence that the best is yet to come.
And we would love you to be a part of it.
To help us find meaningful ways to raise awareness, educate, and bring healing and transformation to how we do life together, keeping what matters most first: Caring for young children, supporting parents and healthy families, and creating a loving learning community, the Corban Way.
