Funded Partner Spotlight: Canguros
Translating to ‘kangaroos’ in English, Canguros is a secular, bilingual Spanish immersion school in South St. Petersburg serving students from ages two through seven.
“We an educational nonprofit rooted in connection,” Foundation and Program Director Linda Rozo explained. “Connection for me is at the heart of who we are.”
With a master’s degree in education, Rozo worked in a variety of youth-serving capacities. One of the biggest obstacles she found in her work, she said, was finding time to build meaningful connections with the children she served.
Then, roughly a year into COVID, she found herself searching for an opportunity for her then-two-year-old daughter to socialize with other kids. She decided to create the opportunity she sought and launched Canguros in March of 2021 as an in-home preschool. She started with just two kids and quickly grew to teaching six children within six months. Two years later, facing increased demand, she decided to expand into a larger facility where she could safely accommodate up to 24 children.
Canguros offers two mixed-age classrooms (one for students ages 2-5, one for students ages 5-7), with a non-traditional and holistic curriculum based on experiential learning and connection. Each year, the school expands a grade to accommodate current students. Each mixed-age classroom has two teachers: one whose native language is English, and one whose native language is Spanish. Teachers alternate weeks leading instruction, allowing students to build language skills in both English and Spanish.
In 2024, Canguros received a $10,000 capacity-building grant, and had staff attend Foundation-sponsored capacity-building sessions. The group used the grant award to build a development plan to and diversify their revenue streams and also work with an attorney to strengthen overall internal processes. The group received an additional Foundation capacity-building grant in 2025.
“We’re a newer school, and we strive to make tuition as affordable as possible to families, so we don’t have extra cash to work with to hire consultants or lawyers. Foundation funding made that support possible,” Rozo said. “Throughout the process, I learned things that have made me a better leader for the school so that I can ensure we’ll be around for years to come.”
About half of Canguros families use Early Learning Coalition and Step Up for Students funds to offset tuition costs. Roughly a quarter of families receive further tuition reductions of up to 90% off based on need. About one-third of students have been identified as neuro-divergent.