Who We Are

Board of Directors:

Hadley Malone, President

Dan Boykin, Treasurer

Roger Williams, Member

Keith Riley, Member

Michael Paul Miller, Secretary

Vicki Hayslett, Member

Marty Sisco, Member

​
​      

Our Vision…
is to see every child have the opportunity to reach learning potential from birth.

We partner with childcare centers in Obion County to ensure excellence in academics with a focus on character development.






The most critical time for brain development occurs between birth and five years of age, with the critical character foundation developing in the earliest years.







Residents of Obion County work together to improve the outcome for children labeled "at risk".

Our Philosophy

Promethean, or Pro-Kids, is a non-profit foundation created in 2004 as a result of the vision and generosity of the Robert E. and Jenny D. Kirkland Foundation.  It is governed by a board chosen by the Union City Rotary Club. 

We believe all children in Obion County should have an opportunity to reach their learning potentials from birth.  However, not every child is born into an environment that provides this opportunity.   

Our goal is to level the playing field!

For children considered “at risk” because of the adverse events in their environments, we are providing scholarships for ages 6 weeks to kindergarten.  They are enrolled in high quality center based childcare 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week, and 12 months out of the year.   By placing children in childcare centers with enriched environments, we have an opportunity to have a positive impact on the most important years in a child’s life, Birth to Five.  Research supports that the most critical time for optimum brain development is the first five years of life and the environment influences about 50% of the brain development during that time.

How much influence can a childcare center’s environment have on a child?  The typical child spends his week in the following way:

There are:
168 hours/week in a child’s life. 
84 hours/week for sleep/naps. (more for babies, less for preschoolers)
42 hours/week in childcare centers.
42 hours/week with family or other.

As you can see, a childcare center has the potential to influence as much as 50% of a child’s learning time.  It is imperative that “at risk” children find high quality care to insure they have an enriched environment.

"At risk" children are eligible for scholarships at ages 6 weeks through kindergarten.

Pro-Kids partners with childcare centers in Obion County; each center is on track to improve quality in all aspects of care.  They use the Tennessee STARS rating system and a challenging Pro-Kids curriculum for excellence in academics with a focus on character development.  

Pro-Kids requires the parents to have their children in childcare daily unless they are sick.  Our attendance rate averages 90%. Our goal is to address children's needs on a daily basis while establishing routines and schedules that provide them with a caring, secure,  and safe environment.  An added benefit of the scholarship is that some parents have opportunities to complete educational goals, seek and maintain jobs, and improve themselves and the home life they provide their children while their children are cared for during the day.  

Our main emphasis is on character.

We believe there is a great chance of impacting change with children.  Why?  The answer is in understanding brain development.  The most critical time for brain development occurs between birth and five years of age, with the critical character foundation developing in the earliest years.  It is a Pro-Kid belief that character should be taught and modeled from birth.  If we wait until a child is 4 (Pre-K time) or even age 5 (kindergarten), we may miss the opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life.    

How are we approaching the education part?  We believe in a rigorous curriculum.  Our curriculum is based on Tennessee State Standards with the inclusion of character, technology, and foreign language, but the main emphasis is on character.  We take a very direct approach to teaching children about character.  In the centers our children attend, the teachers attend training on how to teach character.    

The Promethean Advisory Board represents over 100 community volunteers from all walks of life willing to go the extra mile to see children get a 
good start in life.

We have seen a great pulling together of residents in Obion County to improve the outcome for children labeled as “at risk”.  The Promethean Advisory Board represents over 100 community volunteers from all walks of life willing to go the extra mile to see children get a good start in life.  As part of this, representatives from many community programs work with us to help Pro-Kids accomplish its goal.  The teaching is done through childcare centers licensed by the Department of Human Services.  When needed, children are screened by the Tennessee Early Intervention Service to identify developmental delays as early as possible and address them. 

On our initial visit with the parent, we enroll every child in the Imagination Library Reading Railroad, part of the Governor’s Books From Birth Foundation, which mails books to the homes of preschool children. 

We collaborate with Union City School System and Obion County School System to track scholarship student’s grades on standardized tests after they enter public school.  This information will be used to evaluate the progress of our students on the academic criteria.  Surveys completed by teachers will be used to evaluate character as the child matures.   

The youngest Tennessee citizens deserve the very best education we can offer and the best time to begin is when a child is born.  A successful citizen was once a successful high school student and a successful high school student was successful in the earlier grades and success in the earlier grades is dependent on arriving at kindergarten ready to learn and arriving at kindergarten ready to learn is dependent on an enriched educational environment from birth.  Every child should have that opportunity.