This week, Mayor Mike McGinn announced the award of $470,000 in funding from the 2011 Families and Education Levy for investments in early learning at three Seattle preschools as part of the City of Seattle’s Step Ahead preschool program.

The 2011 funding increases slots at one existing Levy-funded preschool, Denise Louie Education Center in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, and adds two preschools to the Step Ahead program, Seed of Life LLC (southeast Seattle), and Puget Sound Educational Service District (southwest Seattle). The Levy now funds a total of 20 preschool sites operated by 11 community agencies. The Seattle Human Services Department administers the Step Ahead preschool program. For more details, see this news release.