SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – A Pacific Beach early childhood education center founded for children with special needs has grown from a single room to two full campuses in just a few years \u2014 and its founder says the mission is only getting bigger.<\/p>\n
Includ(Ed), located at Cass and Missouri streets, offers daycare, preschool, physical therapy, developmental therapy, and more, all under one roof.<\/p>\n
Anna Chiles started Includ(Ed) in 2022 after struggling to find a daycare that would accept her son, Theo, who has Down syndrome.<\/p>\n
“The conversations would go great. It was, ‘What’s your wait list like? Can we come for a tour?’ And then I would say Down syndrome, and there would always be a long and uncomfortable silence,” Chiles said.<\/p>\n
That silence drove her to create a place for families facing the same barriers.<\/p>\n
“Included was born out of necessity and as a love letter, honestly, to Theo,” Chiles said.<\/p>\n
For families like Kelly Encinias, whose daughter Evelyn is on the autism spectrum, Includ(Ed) has transformed daily life.<\/p>\n
“We were at close to 40 hours a week going to therapy. And now we’ve cut back so drastically that we’re able actually to enjoy each other. And my child is able to have a childhood,” Encinias said.<\/p>\n
The need for a place like Includ(Ed) is evident in its growth. In just the last couple of years, the organization has gone from one room with a few kids to two full campuses, nearly 30 students, and has even launched a summer camp. They also expanded from just a preschool to include TK and Kindergarten.<\/p>\n
“I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been able to preserve what makes this place feel like magic while we grow, because that’s so important,” Chiles said.<\/p>\n
Keeping the center affordable requires philanthropy, and Chiles has found donors across San Diego \u2014 from the very young to early believers in her vision.<\/p>\n
“From my TK student who brought me an envelope that said ‘From Luna’s Piggy Bank’ last week, with $3.50 in it, all the way to folks who have invested in this wild idea before they could see proof,” Chiles said.<\/p>\n
Includ(Ed) is holding its first-ever benefit gala this week. Chiles goal is to raise $100,000 to help offset tuition costs for more families.<\/p>\n
“It started as a love letter to my baby, who’s now six, and it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Chiles said.<\/p>\n
“I think that there is no happier place on earth than Cass and Missouri Street at 9 a.m.,” Chiles said.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – A Pacific Beach early childhood education center founded for children with special needs has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181518,181520,181521,90109,23524,181519,181522,23467,12258,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-460337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-anna-chiles","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-developmental-therapy","tag-down-syndrome","tag-early-childhood-education","tag-included","tag-inclusive-childcare","tag-jared-aarons","tag-pacific-beach","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}