The Washington Post Interviews Martie Kendrick on the History of D.C.’s Bright Beginnings Preschool

Akin Gump public law and policy partner Martie Kendrick was interviewed for The Washington Post’s “From a little acorn – and a great need – did Bright Beginnings grow,” an article that looks at the near three-decade history of a District of Columbia preschool, founded by an organization on whose board Kendrick serves.

The article reports that the Bright Beginnings preschool was designed to give homeless children a quality early education. Kendrick, a member of the board of the Junior League of Washington, said, “I’ll never forget being told that the little cubby that each student had in the preschool was, for many of them, the only space they had in their lives that they could call their own.”

This past July, Bright Beginnings, having relocated five times during its existence, finally got a building of its own—a brand-new, custom-designed, stand-alone space.

“We really wanted to create something that, as a building, is as nice as any child-care center or preschool in our area,” said Kendrick.

“What haunted a number of us was the specter of every morning at 8 o’clock mothers and infants being, in effect, evicted from the homeless shelters and forced to walk the streets of Washington, regardless of extreme cold, rain or high temperatures,” said Kendrick. “There basically was no place for them to go. We thought, ‘Let’s do something that addresses one of the most horrific unmet needs in the community.’ That’s what Bright Beginnings became.”

Looking back at the school’s accomplishments, Kendrick said she’s struck by how far Bright Beginnings has come — and how closely it has stuck to the original goal.

“I think honestly the motivation was: Why shouldn’t the poorest and most vulnerable among us have access to the same high-quality child development and child-care services that our children had?” Kendrick said.