Beechmont Presbyterian Church opened the La Escuelita Learning Hub in January
2021, during the COVID Pandemic, to assist immigrant students who were struggling
with remote learning provided by the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Non-
Traditional Instruction program (NTI). We provided a full day program, five days a
week, for students to receive support in NTI and engage in enrichment activities, which
was led by a JCPS teacher and an all-volunteer staff. We partnered with the
Presbyterian Hispanic Latino Ministry of Preston Highway and initially served students
whose primary language was Spanish, many of whom had recently come to our city via
caravan from Honduras. These students had gone for 7-8 months without formal
education due to the pandemic and had been falling behind academically due to
language and other barriers, so this was viewed as an “essential service”.  

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At the families’ request, in the Fall of 2021, we committed to continue our ministry to
closely walk alongside these families as they navigated school in Louisville amidst the
ongoing pandemic, while coping with traumas endured in their home countries and in
the caravans. In October 2021 we transformed the La Escuelita Learning Hub into an
after-school and family support program to provide literacy and ESL support,
enrichment activities and case management for families to connect them with social
services. In 2023 our first part-time coordinator was hired and in 2025 we hired a full-
time coordinator with 20 years of professional education experience which greatly
helped the program grow both in quality and numbers of students served. In 2025 we
added mental health programming for our students and a Parent Program which
provides parenting classes and a support group led by a professional bilingual therapist.