Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired will break ground on a new addition to its growing campus — the 72,000-square-foot Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™ — during a ceremony to be held on Wednesday, August 3 at 10:30 A.M.
Miami Lighthouse, located at 601 Southwest 8th Avenue, is co-hosting the groundbreaking ceremony in collaboration with Munilla Construction Management, LLC, and Wolfberg Alvarez Partners. The new facility was made possible by private donations in response to a challenge grant from a local philanthropist.
Elected officials, civic leaders and education professionals will participate in the groundbreaking ceremony, along with supporters of Miami Lighthouse. Tours of Miami Lighthouse programs, including special summer classes for blind and visually impaired children, will be conducted immediately after the ceremony.
In addition to housing innovative intervention programs for youngsters from birth through four years old, the Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™ will provide the community with a first-of-its-kind pre-kindergarten program. Blind and visually impaired children from communities throughout Miami-Dade will attend alongside sighted classmates from the surrounding Brickell neighborhood. Miami Lighthouse is introducing this unique pilot project, in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the Early Learning Coalition, to more easily transition blind and visually impaired students to public schools.
The Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™ has been designed as a safe, child-oriented environment with a wide array of tactile experiences through which toddlers and young children can learn about the world around them in an engaging and fun way.
Established in 1931 by Dolly Gamble with the aid of Helen Keller and support from Miami’s Lions and Rotary clubs, Miami Lighthouse is the oldest and largest private agency in Florida assisting persons of all ages who are blind and visually impaired. Today, the agency serves more than 14,000 clients per year with an array of programs that enable blind and visually impaired persons to achieve independence.
For more information about Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, visit MiamiLighthouse.org, or call 305-856-2288.
