The Children’s Development Academy (CDA) was founded in 1967 with the belief that helping children is the key to ending generational poverty. Today, CDA still follows this mission by giving young children a strong educational start so they can read at grade level by third grade, finish high school, go to college, and reach other important goals.
Each year, CDA welcomes over 200 children in 11 classrooms for ages one through Pre-K. By offering tuition-assisted childcare, CDA helps children from low-income families get quality early education and lets their parents keep working. The students and families come from many backgrounds: 65% are Hispanic or Latino, 21% African American, 7% Caucasian, 4% Asian, and 3% multiracial.
The CDA building serves two important purposes. The lower level houses the school and classrooms, while the upper level is home to the Groveway Community Center, the CDA’s administrative offices, and three additional nonprofit organizations: HomeStretch, Family Promise of North Fulton/DeKalb, and the Groveway Community Group.
Sunshine on a Ranney Day led the construction related to the CDA’s Learn. Play. Serve. campaign, which included a major renovation of their building. SOARD worked with trusted partners to handle the project: Randall-Paulson Architects redesigned the inside, Crosby Design Group handled the interior design, and Trident Construction took care of the building work.
SOARD brought in an incredible group of partners to provide the materials and finishes that helped bring the renovation to life. Mohawk donated the flooring, MSI provided the bathroom tile, and Real Floors Commercial completed the tile installation. Construction Resources and Cambria provided the countertops, while SOARD’s own retail store, Sunny & Ranney, furnished the new conference room and entryway.
As part of the renovation, an existing communal space on the classroom level was transformed into a new toddler classroom, doubling the CDA’s capacity to serve toddlers. The classroom can accommodate 12 children and is supported by three full-time teachers.
The Groveway Community Center also received significant improvements. The existing bathrooms were completely gutted and renovated, and a new ADA-accessible bathroom was
added. A boardroom was remodeled, and a new community room was created to serve as a hub for trainings, workshops, meetings, family programs, and other activities.
These new spaces are used by the CDA’s 50 staff members and 25 board members for staff meetings, teacher appreciation events, professional development, and training. They also support family programming for the more than 200 children served by the CDA each year. In addition, HomeStretch, Family Promise of North Fulton/DeKalb, and the Groveway Community Group use the renovated rooms for their own administrative and programming needs, expanding the project’s impact throughout the community.
