Now under construction: a new early childhood learning center in Camden, New Jersey that strives to become a national model. Being built on the Rutgers University-Camden campus, the facility named for the Knight brothers will allow a place for young children to learn while professors apply their scholarly research to the classroom.

“There’s an agreement about the need for getting the children to be part of the educational pipeline as early as possible,” Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, a founder of the Knight Early Learning Research Academy told today’s Courier-Post. “With the work that will be housed in this facility, we’re creating a model that is replicable and that will impact generations of children to come.”

Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Knight’s Philadelphia Program Director, said the foundation is proud of the transformative work that will take place there. The facility is scheduled to open in 2011.

‘The Abbott decision mandated state-supported pre-school in New Jersey’s lowest income school districts. The creation of this academy represents one of the most significant steps to date in seizing the opportunity created by the Abbott decision,’ Frisby-Greenwood said.’ ‘This new venture will provide a great laboratory for developing the kind of programs that can make a real difference in terms of educational and community impact.’

Knight Foundation supported the center with a $2 million grant. Read more in the Courier-Post or in the press release.