PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Busesito means small bus in Spanish, and the mobile preschool program launched this spring by the nonprofit Siente is believed to be the first of its kind on the East Coast.
This is a two-generation program, and we recently graduated our first preschoolers and their families.
Children ages 3 to 5 ride the bus to learn the skills they need in kindergarten, and their parents receive lessons on financial literacy, parenting, and other issues that hinder their development.
Siente was founded as the Norris Square Civic Association in 1982 by a group of Puerto Rican women who wanted to make their neighborhood cleaner and safer.
The name was soon changed to Norris Square Community Alliance.
But as the community they serve expanded beyond the Norris Square area, the nonprofit rebranded again to Siente.
All programs are free and conducted in both English and Spanish.
For young children, we offer everything from infant care to early start and preschool programs.
There is a Youth Take Action Center, which provides teens with a safe space after school and on weekends until 2 a.m.
There’s an e-sports room, a cafe, a computer lab where kids can take college preparatory courses, and a game room.
In the Busesito program, up to eight students receive five hours of instruction per week for six months, with two certified teachers on board the bus.
Siente Education Vice President Adamary Sosa said children who ride buses already score higher on school readiness tests than children who actually attend school five days a week, six hours a day. He said he was releasing it.
Siente currently accepts students in both mobile and physical kindergartens.
Siente |Register
174 Diamond Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
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