The Kellner Family Foundation to Support the Youngest Children, Allocating CZK 40 Million to Its New Early Care Programme

Having supported pupils and students at primary, secondary and university level, the Kellner family foundation will now also focus on the youngest children before they start school. The aim of its new Early Care programme is to increase the number of children who complete primary education and continue their studies. Experience from the Czech Republic and abroad shows that differences in children’s language, social and cognitive development emerge during the first years of life and deepen further once they enter school.

Early Care is being developed in close cooperation with local authorities and Cesta von CZ, an organisation that has successfully introduced the originally Slovak Omama programme in the Moravian-Silesian Region. Cesta von CZ will employ trained community workers known as Omamas, who will make regular home visits to families with children under the age of three and show parents how to develop their children’s language, thinking and curiosity. For preschool-aged children, the foundation will work with municipalities to support professionals who help families ensure a smooth transition into nursery school. Early Care will therefore provide children with continuous support from their earliest years, through nursery school and up to their entry into the first year of primary school.

Every child deserves the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, regardless of the circumstances into which they are born. Educational inequality has its roots in early childhood, when children who lack the necessary support develop a disadvantage that they are unable to overcome in later years. That is why we are expanding the work of our family foundation to include the youngest children. In doing so, we are building on what we have been doing for more than twenty years: helping children develop their full potential. I would also like to thank the Slovak organisation Cesta von, whose dedicated work made it possible to create the programme in its present form.

Renáta Kellnerová

Founder and Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees

The cities of Most and Cheb have already approved their participation in the new programme. In Litvínov, the launch of the partnership is awaiting approval by the municipal council, while the foundation is currently in discussions with another city. The pilot phase is planned for three years, during which the foundation will invest CZK 40 million in Early Care. The funding will primarily support the work of field workers who spend time directly with children and their families. The foundation will monitor the programme continuously and refine its methodology based on the experience gained. Following an evaluation of the three-year pilot, it will decide whether to expand the programme further. The first workers will begin visiting families by January 2027 at the latest.

Early Care is the fourth long-term programme run by the Kellner family foundation, which has been contributing to the development of education in the Czech Republic for more than twenty years. The foundation provides social and academic scholarships to students at Open Gate grammar school, supports talented Czech students attending universities abroad and, through its Helping Schools Succeed programme, develops reading and writing skills among pupils at public primary schools.

The work of the Slovak organisation Cesta von served as both the inspiration and the professional foundation for launching the Early Care programme. Cesta von operates in socially excluded communities in Slovakia, where it developed the methodology for lessons for very young children on which the work of the Omamas is based. In recognition of its many years of dedicated work and to support its future activities, the Kellner family has decided to donate EUR 1 million to Cesta von.

“Every child deserves the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, regardless of the circumstances into which they are born. Educational inequality has its roots in early childhood, when children who lack the necessary support develop a disadvantage that they are unable to overcome in later years. That is why we are expanding the work of our family foundation to include the youngest children. In doing so, we are building on what we have been doing for more than twenty years: helping children develop their full potential. I would also like to thank the Slovak organisation Cesta von, whose dedicated work made it possible to create the programme in its present form,” said Renáta Kellnerová, founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Kellner Family Foundation.

“The vision of the Omama programme is for every child born into poverty to grow up in a supportive environment and have the opportunity to develop their potential. We are therefore extremely grateful to the Kellner family foundation, whose support will enable us to expand the Omama programme to the Ústí nad Labem and Karlovy Vary regions. We believe it will give local families hope for a better life and offer them a path out of social exclusion. This is a major challenge for us, but we are already looking forward to presenting the results achieved during the pilot phase,” said Svatava Plachá, Director of Cesta von CZ.

“I am very pleased that the Early Care programme will also be implemented in Cheb. The Kellner Family Foundation has long supported all schools in Cheb through its Helping Schools Succeed programme, and we greatly appreciate that this support is now being extended to the youngest children. It is important for children to have the best possible conditions for a smooth transition into both nursery and primary school and to integrate successfully into the educational environment. Supporting families is equally important, as the family environment plays a crucial role during the first years of a child’s life. I am convinced that targeted work with families will help strengthen children’s development from an early age and improve their prospects of succeeding in education. The City of Cheb will play an active role in the programme, and I believe that together we will be able to support and integrate as many children as possible into the education system,” said Štěpánka Černá, Cheb City Councillor responsible for education.

“Sometimes a small amount of support at the right time is all it takes to give a child the opportunity to develop their full potential. That is exactly what the Early Care programme is about. I am pleased that Most has become part of this initiative, because I believe that every child deserves attention, encouragement and the opportunity to start life in the best possible circumstances. What we give children during the first years of their lives will be repaid many times over through their future achievements and a fulfilling life,” emphasised Markéta Stará, Deputy Mayor of Most.