CHABAM First Anniversary

What makes an advisor on security and emergency preparedness issues get into early childhood development and education? It sounds a little reminiscent of “Kindergarten Cop,” no? CHABAM co-founder Jim Levine laughs when posed the question, but the answer lies in having children of his own, a decision that ultimately brought him and his family back to Cleveland.

First, a little background: Levine is one of the most knowledgeable security professionals in the industry. He is the co-founder of Vance International, a Washington, DC-based security company offering protection, training, and consulting services all over the world.

He sold that business after ten years and found himself at a crossroads: What to do next?

“My wife said, ‘So now what are you going to do? Why don’t you consider doing something for kids?’ It made perfect sense. I love my kids to death and the idea of doing something for kids was very appealing.”

He first started looking at franchise operations for children’s educational facilities, thinking that perhaps he would “pick out the one I liked the best” and open a new location here in Cleveland. But something was missing. These operations weren’t based on anything substantive or progressive, to his way of thinking.

“A lot of these facilities are very much about profitability; everything they were proposing for the kids in a learning sense was anecdotal,” Levine told Cool Cleveland during a recent interview. “There was nothing to substantiate that what they were doing was really good for kids. I felt like if you’re dealing with kids, you have to do things at a much higher level… validating it with research. At that point, I realized we were going to have to create our own program.

“We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to bundle, music art and physical activity, instead of having families running to three different places, couldn’t we put all three offered at a high level in one location. Fortunately for me, I was able to get to get some renowned assistance.”

What Levine, his brother Bob and Director Jeannie Fleming-Gifford created became the first of its kind in Cleveland—an educational play facility for a wide age range of children. And with the help of Dr. Arthur Lavin, Professor of Pediatrics at the Case School of Medicine, as well as some input from folks at Harvard, the developmental process for what would become CHABAM curriculum began to take shape.

CHABAM is located in the Woodmere neighborhood. It’s a unique, fun-filled, “extra-curricular learning center for children” from birth to 8 years old and their families. They offer an innovative, research-based music, art and movement curriculum and this weekend they are celebrating their First Anniversary (details below).

Nevermind that walking into CHABAM is like stepping into a cartoon or comic book. It is a state-of-the-art facility specially designed by educators as an interactive and educational tool. The folks at CHABAM encourage creativity and participation through instruction and in things art studio with pottery wheels for little hands, a huge interactive tree house, a one-of-a-kind puppet theater and an 8-foot aquarium filled with South African fish. It could very well be the model for the future of child development.

You could call it day care on steroids if you like, but that would be a shortcut to thinking. This really is a far more substantive thing. And it was born right here in good old Cleveland, Ohio… a place for Cool Cleveland People to take their Cool Cleveland Kids that is thoughtful, cutting-edge and “developmentally sound” for children. It's also a state-of-the-art facility as it relates to protection: Levine relied heavily on his background for the protective measures and security functions for the creation of the facility. Keeping kids safe so they could learn and grow was the icing on the cake.

“It’s as close to a laboratory environment that teachers could possibly have,” Levine added, “and it’s heartwarming for everyone involved to have the community respond so favorably. I’m from Cleveland, originally born and raised here, and I came back here to start family. It’s great to be able to offer such a wonderful place to the families in this community… and for children to get a leg up in skills and development.”

Though they are celebrating their first birthday, Levine and others at CHABAM would tell you it took much longer to pull everything together so it would all be done exactly right. There was research to see if this kind of bundled program was available anywhere else. Then was the hiring of an “all-degree teaching team,” put in place six months before the scheduled opening so as to craft a research-based curriculum the instructors would feel invested in, and “so that every parent would know that what we’re doing for the kids is good for them,” Levine said.

Today, there are some 72 CHABAM classes, all research based. Instructors maintain very small ratios: 1 teacher to 5 kids for younger age groups; 1 to 7 for the older kids. And the response has been overwhelming. Some 250 families have set up memberships with CHABAM so they are able to reserve spots. “They’re worried we’ll have to turn them away, which has happened in the past, because we fill up pretty fast,” Levine added.

CHABAM is "in demand." The Cleveland Orchestra had CHABAM as a part of their Mozart 250th Birthday Celebration at Severance Hall recently. And they’ve had people lining up with requests to purchase the facility outright, as well as request permission for franchise rights, too.

“We have had several offers to expand. Developers from Nashville, Chicago, Houston… Manhattan… West Palm Beach, Atlanta… there has been a lot of interest. We’re more interested in remaining credible and maintaining quality at the highest level. We may give more thought to that in the future, but at the moment we are happy where we are right here in Cleveland.”

Join CHABAM’S all degreed teaching team on Sunday, March 12th between the hours of 11am-2pm for a no-cost, family festival birthday bash! This event, appropriate for families with pre-teen children (4 months-12 years), will provide a multitude of FUN activities for the whole family. Bring your friends! CHABAM is located at 28700 Chagrin Blvd, Woodmere OH 44122. Check out all the details on the event and learn more about CHABAM at www.CHABAM.com or by calling CHABAM at 464-8500.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com

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