Napa Valley Early Learning Initiative

Closing the academic achievement gap.

We want to close the academic achievement gap between English-fluent students and English language-learning students to help ensure children’s success in life. The Napa Valley Early Learning Initiative (NVELI) strives to do just that by investing in high-quality early learning experiences for children before they enter kindergarten. Research supports that every public dollar spent on high-quality early learning results in future savings on education, crime reduction and social services.

Our commitment

The ultimate goal of the NVELI is to ensure that every child in Napa County enters kindergarten ready to learn. To realize this goal, Napa Valley Vintners has committed up to $5 million over the next 3-5 years and has created a partnership with First 5 Napa County as the experts in early childhood learning and development.

Which neighborhoods are involved?

The NVELI elected to pilot the program in four high-need elementary school neighborhoods: American Canyon’s Napa Junction; Napa’s Shearer and Phillips; and Calistoga’s Elementary School. Our hope is that NVELI will become a model for supporting and enhancing existing community services while building collaboration among all who affect a child’s early education.

The approach

NVELI has four components with strategies, activities and outcomes to reduce the achievement gap in Napa County:

1. Family Strengthening which includes engaging hard to reach families and supporting parents in learning English while providing their children with enhanced childcare.
2. Child Access that provides more high quality preschool experiences and provides summer preschool experiences to support children entering kindergarten.
3. Provider Quality to support preschool teachers with the skills and coaching to best serve English language learning students.
4. System Change to assure an integrated, clear and streamlined process for funding and communication about NVELI.

For more information, contact Michelle Laymon.

Read the complete logic model

Essay: NVELI – A Success Story in the Making