The first child care facility to be built utilizing grant funding from the Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund, the Beverly Children’s Learning Center (BCLC), celebrated the opening of its new center at 550 Cabot St., Beverly, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 15.
BCLC, which received a $1 million grant support early education program facilities development and improvements, has served low-income and at risk children (ages 1 month to 13 years) and families in Beverly since 1973, growing from 30 families in its first location to 135 today. The Center offers year round high quality, safe, affordable early education, childcare and resources for families in the Beverly area.
The Center serves a diverse population; 50 percent of children come from single parent households and 80 percent come from low-income homes. One-third of the children have special cognitive, physical and emotional needs and 30 percent come from homes where English is second language
In total, BCLC is seeking to raise $2.6 million in a capital campaign to help complete renovations to the Center. Staff and students moved into the new location on Cabot Street on Aug. 31. With the new facility, the Center will be able to care for up to 159 children in the Beverly area.
EEOST, administered by the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) in coordination with the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), and its affiliate Children’s Investment Fund (the Fund), provides child care providers with capital resources to develop high quality early learning facilities. BCLC’s new site provides high quality, safe and affordable early education and care for up to 159 children.
The $1.4 billion Housing Bond Bill that passed in November 2013 authorized – for the first time ever – $45 million to create the EEOST Capital Grant Fund to improve the quality of center-based child care facilities.
Earlier this year, 10 centers in Massachusetts received awards totaling $7.45 million in capital grants to substantially renovate, improve or acquire and construct new program facilities. The grants made to these ten programs will improve learning environments for nearly 1,400 children across the Commonwealth, more than 85 percent of which are from low-income families. Of the projects funded with the initial FY14 and FY15 allocations, 70 percent are in Massachusetts Gateway Cities. The $7.45 million is leveraging more than $18 million in private investment from foundations, social lenders, banks, and other sources.
This summer, it was announced that the EEOST Capital Fund will receive a third allocation of $4 million for FY2016 as part of the administration’s “FY2016-2020 Five-Year Capital Investment Plan.”
This additional $4 million allocation will help the Commonwealth meet the strong demand for additional capital by child care providers in creating high quality facilities in Massachusetts. Over 60 providers across the state are planning projects to improve the quality of their educational space. Over 30 percent of these providers are located in Gateway Cities.