RALEIGH — Communities in Schools of Wake County announced today that it has received a $45,000 grant from PNC Foundation to establish pre-kindergarten initiatives at two of its Raleigh community learning centers,

The grant will fund early childhood efforts at Communities in Schools’ PNC Learning Center at Heritage Park and the SAS Learning Center at Kentwood. It will assist in Communities in Schools’ efforts to help prevent students from dropping out of school.

“Our support of CIS Wake’s new pre-Kindergarten initiative provides additional opportunities for young children to improve their prospects to graduate high school and build a solid foundation for the future of Wake County,” said Paula Fryland, PNC regional president of Eastern Carolinas, in a written statement.

Communities in Schools supports more than 5,000 students in six Wake County public school sites and five community-based learning centers.