Summer 2005

GW, Bright Horizons Aim to Build Bright Spaces and Put Smiles on Young Faces

The George Washington University is lending a helping hand to the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children. The child care organization, which has operated a center at GW since 1996, is committed to improving the quality of life for at-risk children by supporting programs that serve at-risk children, filling children with self esteem, providing nurturing, creative environments for them, and supporting and facilitating the development of strong families.

In 1999, Bright Horizons Family Solutions created the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children to help achieve its mission of making a difference in the lives of children and families. The foundation is working toward this goal by building playrooms for children in homeless shelters nationwide. These playrooms, “Bright Spaces,” provide safe, educational, and stimulating areas in which at-risk children can play and learn.

The University hopes to raise money for the construction of a new playroom in a DC homeless shelter and ultimately use the talents of GW staff member volunteers to build this “Bright Space.” In order to raise funds for the construction of this playroom, the University is partnering with Bright Horizons through the sale of the Bright Spaces CD, a compilation of songs by popular children’s artists that is a delight for both children and adults alike. The CD includes the vocal talents of Raffi, Ziggy Marley, Arlo and Woody Guthrie, and many others. The CD is sold in the GW Bookstore and a portion of the proceeds from the sales goes directly to the Bright Spaces program.

“We are all excited about this wonderful project and hope that, with your help, we can reach our goal of creating a safe, fun and educational environment for at-risk children in our community and put some much needed smiles on these young faces,” said Nicole Neuman, auxiliary services program manager. “You can help us reach our goal by purchasing this delightful CD for the enjoyment of yourself and your children, or even just the child in you.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu