In 1968 Dorothy Fleegler was volunteering to help migrant farmer families and children in east Boca Raton.  Seeing the poor conditions in which they were living, and the lack of early education for the young children, she was determined to establish a preschool program that would allow poverty stricken children to enter school on par with those more fortunate. James and Florence Fuller, sharing her deep concern for disadvantaged children, generously agreed to establish the center in their name.  The founders’ vision was to offer quality childcare and educational programs to disadvantaged children from infancy to well into their school-age years.

The Centers’ enrollment has increased from 22 children in 1971, to two nationally accredited child development centers in east and west Boca Raton serving more than 600 children annually.  Our East Center generally serves low-income inner city children, whereas our West Center serves a more rural population from predominantly non-English-speaking homes.  The children we serve are growing up in circumstances that might limit development of their potential, compromise their health, impair their sense of self, and generally restrict their chances for successful lives. Services are provided to children whose parents are in low-income jobs, career training programs or in college, employed as farm-workers, are teenagers in school, are disabled or children who are identified by the Department of Children and Families as neglected or abused.