Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new universal online enrollment system designed to improve access and enrollment in early childhood programming available under Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and city-administered community-based sites citywide. This platform will connect children and families to the expanding full-day pre-k opportunities citywide, which include an additional 1,000 full-day prekindergarten opportunities for families of four-year olds citywide this fall. “The single most important investment we can make in our future is in the children of Chicago and their education,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Every child in every neighborhood deserves a quality education and that must begin in their critical earliest years. This new tool will help our families to more easily enroll their child in a quality program, and most importantly, will ensure that both pre-kindergarten programming and kindergarten readiness are truly an option for every child.”

Through the new online enrollment system, parents will be able to find and more easily choose from the more than 35,000 opportunities available in over 600 school- and community-based program sites citywide. By creating this one-stop shop for preschool, parents can see all options open to them across the City. Moving the application process online allows parents to receive real-time information about program availability in their desired location that meets their child’s needs, eliminating the need to visit multiple sites to apply for preschool. With this new tool, Chicago is the first city in the country to develop an online preschool application system so comprehensive that it spans all early learning program models and funding streams available to children ages 3-5. “Our children’s early years are critical in setting a foundation for a lifetime of success in school and in life,” said Diana Rauner, First Lady of the State of Illinois and President of the Ounce of Prevention Fund. “This is why we stand committed with Chicago and our partners statewide in building quality early learning opportunities that will ensure that all children are equipped to learn and thrive early on and when they enter kindergarten.”