FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The First Virtual Preschool for Hospitalized Children in the Pediatric Hospital Environment.
A New “School-Without-Walls” Bridging the Gap from Hospital to Home for Children with Medical Complexities Ages 2-6
Roseville, CA. Growing Brilliant today launched The Bridge Project, a virtual preschool for hospitalized children ages 2-6. The company’s North Star is reaching the 9 million children in the United States who miss preschool due to three systemic barriers: childhood illness, economic hardship, and geographic childcare deserts. Specifically, The Bridge Project addresses one of the most invisible and urgent of these barriers, reaching children whose medical journeys have cut them off from the developmental foundation every child deserves.
Children ages 2-6 represent the only pediatric population without structured educational continuity during hospitalization. Although federal programs support K-12 hospital school programs, pre-K patients, including those in Oncology, BMT, and long-stay medical units, receive no standardized developmental programming during inpatient care or discharge transition. In response, Growing Brilliant created The Bridge Project, a zero-infection-risk virtual preschool for hospitalized children designed specifically for pediatric hospital environments.
A recent surge in Growing Brilliant’s enrollment inspired the project. More and more preschoolers with serious medical conditions are joining because they are too medically fragile for physical classrooms. In fact, HCUP data (AHRQ) shows more than 350,000 inpatient stays annually involve children ages 1-4. Yet virtually none of these children receive structured developmental programming during hospitalization. Research from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child confirms that 90% of brain architecture develops before age five. A child’s development does not pause for a diagnosis.
“My wife Lisa and I built Growing Brilliant because we saw what high-quality early education did for children in our own preschool classrooms every single day. Shy kids becoming confident, hesitant kids becoming curious. When we took that experience online, we unlocked access for families who couldn’t get through the door because of waitlists, cost, or distance. The Bridge Project is the purest expression of why we started this company: now we’re reaching the children who need it most, the ones who can’t get to any classroom because a hospital room became their world.”
Zach Hansen, Founder of Growing Brilliant
“Our North Star is reaching the 9 million children who are missing preschool, not by choice, but because economics, geography, or illness put it out of reach. Growing Brilliant is building solutions across all three barriers. The Bridge Project is our answer to the most overlooked one: the ‘littles’ whose hospital room became their classroom. This is a scalable, zero-infection-risk ‘School-Without-Walls’ designed to ensure that a child’s medical journey never dictates their developmental future.”
Shannon Penrose, Partner & CEO of Growing Brilliant
A Virtual Preschool for Hospitalized Children: A Proprietary Clinical Innovation
The Bridge Project introduces a proprietary, low-friction institutional funding and delivery model designed for children’s hospitals, Ronald McDonald Houses, and foundations. At the center of the model is the Floating Seat, a virtual enrollment position that travels with the child. When a patient enters the hospital, the Floating Seat activates structured, live developmental sessions at bedside. Then, at discharge, the seat follows the child home as part of the care transition plan. It simultaneously opens for the next patient, ensuring the institution’s investment is always in use.
Cost-Effective: Essentially, a permanent “virtual desk” at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated Education FTE: zero physical infrastructure, zero additional staffing, zero infection risk.
Continuity of Care: As one child completes treatment, the seat immediately becomes available for the next patient, maximizing institutional and philanthropic investment.
Hospital-to-Home Bridge: The Floating Seat integrates into the hospital’s existing discharge planning workflow. It provides developmental continuity as a standard part of the child’s transition from inpatient care to home-bound recovery. Notably, research consistently identifies inadequate developmental planning as a critical gap in pediatric hospital-to-home transitions (Haspels et al., 2025). The Bridge Project closes that gap for pre-K.
Measurable Patient & Family Experience Impact: Structured sessions provide caregiver respite. Additionally, they have the potential to positively influence Child HCAHPS (CAHPS Child Hospital Survey) scores across comfort, environment, and overall hospital rating domains.
Community Benefit Alignment: The model aligns with IRS Schedule H community health improvement reporting categories. As a result, it supports nonprofit hospital systems’ Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) priorities.
Highly-qualified EC teachers lead every session. Furthermore, physical curriculum boxes ship directly to bedside or home. Because the model requires zero physical contact, it is safe for immunocompromised patients in the most sterile environments, including Oncology and BMT wards.
2026 National Pilot Cohort
Currently, Growing Brilliant is building its 2026 National Pilot Cohort, beginning with anchor partnerships at leading children’s hospitals in California and throughout the US. The initiative seeks early partners across three categories:
Children’s Hospital Systems interested in piloting pre-K developmental programming within their pediatric care continuum and discharge planning workflows.
Foundations and Philanthropic Partners committed to closing early childhood equity gaps in pediatric care, including through Program-Related Investments (PRIs) and community health impact funding.
Ronald McDonald House Charities Chapters seeking to extend developmental programming to families in transitional housing during treatment.
Pilot details, funding models, and institutional partnership structures are available upon request.
About Growing Brilliant
Growing Brilliant is an award-winning provider of live, teacher-led virtual preschool. The company combines credentialed educators with physical curriculum kits shipped to the child’s door. Under the leadership of CEO Shannon Penrose, a 30+ year education leader spanning public education Pre-K-12, Fortune 500 companies, and national nonprofits, the company is on a mission to democratize access to expert-backed early childhood education. Growing Brilliant achieves this through strategic partnerships with healthcare systems, foundations, and mission-aligned organizations.
Partner With Growing Brilliant→
For partnership and investment inquiries: online@growingbrilliant.com | 833.255.5788
Media Contact: Shannon Penrose | shannon@growingbrilliant.com | 833.255.5788
Sources: HCUP Statistical Brief #299 (AHRQ) · NCES Fast Facts #516 · Harvard Center on the Developing Child · CHOP Hospital School Program · Child HCAHPS/CAHPS Child Hospital Survey (AHRQ) · IRS Schedule H Instructions (2025) · Haspels et al., Child: Care, Health and Development (2025)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
