GEZFLC | Gainesville 4 All

Hear from Cathyann Solomon

Meet Cathyann Solomon, new executive director of the Gainesville Empowerment Zone Family Learning Center. She is a native of Trinidad who has lived in Gainesville for more than two decades. Most recently she lived in Cincinnati where her daughter, Sydni, last spring graduated from the University of Cincinnati. Cathyann is excited about returning to Gainesville and leading the charge at the GEZFLC where we're growing greatness.

2024 Alachua County Board of County Commissioners Meeting

Watch our Executive Director, James Lawrence, present the GNV4ALL Annual Report at the Board of County Commissioners Meeting

Download the 2024 Annual Report

ENROLLMENT

If you are interested in enrolling your child in the Family Learning Center or know someone who may be interested, click the button below to find out more!

ENROLLMENT

If you are interested in enrolling your child in the Family Learning Center or know someone who may be interested, click the button below to find out more!

ENROLLMENT

OUR WHY

Achievement Gap

The GEZFLC works to reduce disparities in English Language Arts Achievement in Alachua County. The 2021-2022 gap between Black and white students was 28% in Florida and 45% in Alachua County, according to the Florida Department of Education. The Family Learning Center makes high-quality care and education more accessible in communities that need it.

Family Support

The GEZFLC endeavors to support the entire family of our students. By connecting parents with helpful resources and hosting programs like Dads For Duty, the GEZFLC seeks to uplift families in many different ways that extend beyond affordable, high-quality childcare and education.

Template for Future Schools

It is a long-term goal of the GEZFLC to serve as a template for future schools across the state and the country. The GEZFLC provides support to local families in a way that is unique from any other center in Florida, and it is our hope that the positive impact of the Family Learning Center will inspire others like it to open.

STATISTICS

The Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) includes two tools that are used to measure school readiness in kindergarteners throughout Florida within the first 30 days of kindergarten. The two tools are: a subset of the Early Childhood Observation System (ECHOS) and two measures from the Kindergarten Florida Assessment for Instruction in Reading (FAIR-K).

In the 2013-2014 school year, Alachua County kindergarteners fared worse than the state on ECHOS; 89.7 percent of Alachua County kindergarteners were ‘ECHOS ready’ and 91.4 percent of Florida kindergarteners were ‘ECHOS ready.’

The following schools had lower than 80.0 percent ECHOS Ready:

• Metcalfe Elementary (56.6 percent)

• Shell Elementary (75.0 percent)

• Waldo Community (74.2 percent)

• Rawlings Elementary (64.6 percent)

The area the GEZFLC focuses on includes Metcalfe and Rawlings Elementary School. These scored the lowest in Alachua County.

Achievement Milestones

The GEZFLC is dedicated to creating positive change and improving the lives of individuals and families in Gainesville. Here is a look at what we've done over the past year!