Sept. 24, 2024

Bethlehem Center bought billboard space in March 2020 to announce its new name: The Alliance Center for Education. That was the month that COVID-19 grounded commuter traffic, and Alliance Center has yet to become the household word that Bethelehem Center was for decades for thousands of families and children in Charlotte’s low-income communities.

Also for decades, Alliance Center CEO Jared acknowledges, the organization kept its head down, focused not on its community profile but on assisting Charlotte’s youngest residents and their families prepare for the life as they want it to be.

Named COO in 2006 and CEO in 2022 when he was last at the Forum, Keaton is now pursuing Alliance’s strategic plan that involves more service sites to be close to families needing the group’s services, and more seats to reach more of the community’s youngest children. He announced at the Forum the organization’s return to the University City area, and a plan to double the number of infants and toddlers served. Destiniee Jaram’s QCityMetro’s report on those initiatives is here.

The Alliance’s website is here.