Mass. Enterprise Targets Inadequate Preschool Facilities

Published Online: October 15, 2013
Published in Print: October 16, 2013, as Mass. Enterprise Targets Inadequate Preschool Facilities
Mass. Enterprise Targets Inadequate Preschool Facilities
Focus is centers serving low-income families
By Christina A. Samuels
For years, Community Action Inc., in Haverhill, Mass., ran a Head Start program for more than 200 children in a building that once was a turkey coop.
The facility, located on land once owned by a religious order, came with low rent and pastoral surroundings, said John Cuneo, the executive director of Community Action. But the kitchen didn’t meet local code, the walls lacked insulation, and in the winter, frozen pipes in an outbuilding used as classroom space regularly required Mr. Cuneo to run a hose from the main facility so the children and staff members could have water.
Many preschools that serve low-income and rural communities are managing programs in makeshift spaces that were never built with the needs of young children in mind. But thanks to a nonprofit in Boston called the Children’s Investment Fund, Mr. Cuneo and other preschool providers in the state are getting training and money to renovate old facilities or build new ones.
A bill that is expected to win approval in the Massachusetts legislature would set the stage for a constant source of money for the work of the Children’s Investment Fund.
At a time when early education is getting attention from leaders at the federal, state, and local levels, the approach to funding and technical assistance that Massachusetts and some other states are pursuing is seen by advocates as a model for expanding high-quality preschool options.
“What we’ve seen in the last four or five years, when the economy has been bad, is that borrowing for improving facilities has really leveled off and virtually disappeared,” said Mav Pardee, the program manager for the Children’s Investment Fund. “Programs have been very concerned about mere survival.”
Makeover strategies
States are taking a variety of approaches to support the construction and renovation of preschool centers.
Direct Grants The Pennsylvania departments of community and economic development and public welfare collaborated in making “Child Care Challenge Grants” totaling $10 million per year. The program resulted in the construction or renovation of 55 centers licensed to serve 3,365 children.
Access to Public Debt North Carolina partnered with Self-Help Inc., a nonprofit community-development-finance institution, to guarantee loans to small center-based and home-based child-care businesses, using the federal Child Care and Development Fund.
Direct Loans Maryland’s business and economic development department has made child-care facility loans and loan guarantees to nonprofit and for-profit center-based programs. The state seeks private bank participation in the financing, charges market or slightly below-market rates, and writes the loans for 15 to 20 years.
Subsidized Loans The Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority partially guarantees private-sector child-care loans to improve the creditworthiness of loan applicants who would not otherwise qualify.
Rate Enhancements In Maine, providers who have earned a “quality certificate” are eligible for a variety of state financing incentives as well as a 10 percent to 15 percent bonus over the state child-care-subsidy fee.
Technical Assistance The state contracts with the nonprofit Vermont Community Loan Fund to provide facilities-development assistance to centers. The nonprofit also administers a capital grant program that funds an annual state appropriation and sales of a special “Building Brighter Futures” child-care license plate.
Sources: Local Initiatives Support Corp.; Community Investment Collaborative for Kids
But the current national conversation has provided a boost, and an opportunity to think, once again, about the facilities where children may spend hours each day. Facilities “are another dimension of quality,” Ms. Pardee said.
Poor Climate Control
James Eldridge, a Massachusetts state senator who chairs the legislature’s joint committee on housing, said he expected the Massachusetts measure—part of a $1.4 billion housing-bond bill—to become law by the end of this month. The legislation would provide a $45 million bond for improving child-care facilities.
In 2011, the Children’s Investment Fund conducted a survey of 182 child-care centers across the state that target a low-income population, and found many of them to be lacking.
Several programs were housed in facilities that did not meet building code. Seventy percent of the centers did not have classroom sinks. Forty percent lacked restrooms directly accessible from the classroom, considered a best practice for programs serving young children. Only one space was fully accessible for children with disabilities.
Also, one-third of the centers said they were not able to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures in the winter and summer.
While those findings are specific to Massachusetts, they are not unusual in other parts of the country for preschool providers who serve a low-income population, said Amy Gillman, the senior program director for the Community Investment Collaborative for Kids, a program of the New York City-based Local Initiatives Support Corp. The collaborative works nationwide to provide technical assistance and funding to preschool providers.
“There’s a misconception that there’s enough of an operating stream that you can set some of that aside to pay for improved facilities,” Ms. Gillman said.
In reality, the margins are thin. “We tell providers to never take from a program,” she said. “You don’t want to build a building for a poor-quality program.”
Convincing lawmakers of the importance of high-quality facilities is not difficult, according to Ms. Gillman. “Mostly we hear that, ‘Yes, we do acknowledge that facilities are an issue.’ But what it comes down to is resources and where is the funding going to come from,” she said.
Permanent Funding
States have taken several different tacks to meet the facilities needs of child-care providers. Some have provided direct grants, as Pennsylvania did from 2002 to 2004. During that time, the state awarded $30 million to 55 centers, which used the money to build or renovate their spaces.
Other states have chosen to establish permanent funding streams, such as what Massachusetts is attempting to do. Connecticut, through its Child Care Facilities Loan Fund, provides bond financing for nonprofits, guarantees loans to induce private lenders to work with providers, and offers direct loans to small centers and home-based providers.
An additional challenge for providers is developing the expertise to plan a renovation or building project and see it through to completion. Preschool directors may know how to hire a good teacher, but usually have no experience hiring a qualified architect, Ms. Gillman said.
In 2003, Mr. Cuneo went through a program sponsored by the Children’s Investment Fund called Building Stronger Centers, where he and other providers learned the nuts and bolts of managing a construction project.
The fund also helped connect him with MassDevelopment, the state’s financing authority, which underwrote the $1.5 million renovation project, completed in 2007. The program is now housed in a former elementary school that had been mothballed by the local school district.
“The most important thing is having quality classrooms,” Mr. Cuneo said. “They’re nicely laid out, they are colorful, they are decorated appropriately, there are sinks in each classroom, and toilet facilities. And we were able to upgrade the playground area.”
Donna M. Denette, the executive director of Children First Enterprises in rural Granby, Mass., also went through the Building Stronger Centers program. Before renovations, her center was operating out of a vacant hair salon, a church basement, and the corner of a school cafeteria.
After $1.7 million in renovations, completed in 2010, the center now has appropriate classroom space for the preschool and school-age population it serves.
“We had this great philosophy, great staff, great curriculum, but the facility just didn’t support staff,” Ms. Denette said. “There was no place to have a kid who was sick waiting to be picked up, no place to have a private meeting with a parent.”
“I never could have done it without” the Children’s Investment Fund, she said.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/10/16/08facilities.h33.html?r=782168067

SourceEducation Week

HOUSE PANEL READIES $1.4 BIL HOUSING BOND, ROAD OUTLAY BILLS FOR FLOOR VOTES

By Matt Murphy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 3, 2013….The House this week is poised to advance legislation that would invest $1.4 billion in housing investments over the next five years, the first of a series on long-term borrowing bills expected to surface this session in the Legislature.

A House committee also voted on Monday to advance a bill facilitating $300 million in spending on local road projects over the next year, and House Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets Chairman Rep. Antonio Cabral said he expected the full House to vote on that bill as well on Wednesday, barring any last minute “hiccups.”

With the House planning a Wednesday afternoon session, the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets voted unanimously on Monday to recommend the housing bond bill (H 3464) and a bill (H 3488) setting the terms for borrowing $300 million to support the state’s Chapter 90 local road and bridge repair program.

The Patrick administration has raised concerns about the affordability of the $300 million road program, given the uncertainty of ongoing talks about raising taxes, and last week notified municipal officials that it would release only $150 million as it awaited resolution to debate over new revenue.

Cabral said the committee considered inserting language into the terms bill to “encourage” Gov. Deval Patrick to release at least $200 million immediately for local road repairs, which would be equal to the funding approved last year. Cabral said the committee ultimately decided to recommend the bill as written and to continue to put pressure on the administration through lawmakers and local officials to release more than $150 million. “I think we’re going to get there. It’s a matter of getting the governor to understand that the funds will be there,” Cabral said.

Testifying in support of the Chapter 90 terms bill, Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director Geoffrey Beckwith said important local road projects and repairs will be delayed across the state and long-term costs will rise because the Patrick administration has agreed to release only half the funds authorized under a law approved unanimously by the House and Senate and signed in May by the governor.

“We’re very disappointed with this quite frankly,” Beckwith said.

Asked by Rep. Carl Sciortino whether the MMA could show a financial analysis proving the affordability of the $300 million Chapter 90 allocation, Beckwith said House and Senate Ways and Means Chairmen Rep. Brian Dempsey and Sen. Stephen Brewer, and Transportation Committee Chairmen Rep. William Straus and Sen. Thomas McGee had all testified to its affordability.

“We believe those are very strong, powerful and credible sources talking about the financial affordability of the Chapter 90 funding,” Beckwith said.

Michael Valenti, of the Massachusetts Highway Association, testified that there is $562 million in annual need to maintain the 30,000 miles of roads maintained by cities and towns. He said reducing Chapter 90 funding to $150 million would put “enormous burdens” on cities and towns by delaying repairs and requiring more costly road replacement projects in the future.

The Bonding Committee also took testimony on the housing bond bill filed by Housing Committee Co-chair Rep. Kevin Honan that would be the first long-term housing spending bill to come before the Legislature since 2008.

“This is one of the more important bills the Legislature can pass this session,” said Sen. Jamie Eldridge, the Senate co-chair of the Joint Committee on Housing.

Among the investments made by the bill is a $500 million authorization for the rehabilitation and modernization of state-assisted public housing. Housing and Community Development Undersecretary Aaron Gornstein said the bill would not create any new state-owned public housing, but would speed up the turnover of dilapidated units once they become vacant.

“There are not a lot of vacancies, but we’re trying to turn those units around quickly,” Gornstein told Rep. Paul Heroux, who asked if the bill would reduce wait times for public housing.

Cabral said the Bonding Committee made one policy change in the bill to encourage owner-occupied homeownership through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The amendment would require purchasers of homes with two to six units to live in the building for up to 10 years before the occupancy restriction is lifted. “We believe it will create better stability in these neighborhoods where investments are being made,” Cabral said.

The bill also includes $55 million to facilitate home modifications for the elderly and disabled to allow them to remain in their homes and stay out of nursing homes. Another $45 million is included in the proposed bill for the first time to support capital investments in early education centers that advocates said are “squeezed financially” and an important resource for low-income families.

Bob French, who runs the North Star Learning Center in New Bedford, said it is difficult for early education learning centers to generate the private financial backing necessary to build new facilities to support the learning needs of low-income children in public housing.

Sean Caron, chief of staff of Community Builders, also testified in support of the $20 million investment the bond bill would make in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program that he said was integral to private, affordable housing development.

Caron said Community Builders, a nationwide non-profit developer, is counting on the tax credit in its plans to develop the vacant Loom Works textile mill in Worcester into 94 units of new housing with parking and green space, creating 175 jobs in Worcester.

Charles Eisenberg, a member of the Commonwealth Housing Task Force, said the $500 million investment in rehabilitating existing units is “desperately needed,” and called the low-income housing tax credit program an important tool for expanding access to affordable housing and retaining a qualified workforce.

“This is Massachusetts. We don’t have gas fields or wheat fields. We have hard working people and they can move somewhere else if they choose,” Eisenberg said.

Thomas Connolly, executive director of the state chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, said the $500 million investment in state public housing would help address a $1.8 billion backlog of necessary capital improvements.

“This governor has been a great friend to public housing. But this is a five-year authorization bill so we just hope the next administration is as supportive of public housing as this governor,” said Connolly, who has recently clashed with the Patrick administration over the governor’s plan to consolidate oversight of local public housing authorities.

-END-
06/03/2013

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SourceState House News

A slightly different kind of Brain Building: how a bond bill can support early ed

Home › Russet Morrow › 2013 › May ›
Posted: May 17, 2013
A slightly different kind of Brain Building: how a bond bill can support early ed
In an opinion piece in this week’s Boston Globe, Senator Sal DiDomenico and Representative Jeffrey Sanchez wrote about legislation that would upgrade child care facilities serving low income children, to meet important quality standards.
United Way has been working with Children’s Investment Fund on this issue since 2011, when we helped fund the study that evaluated child care facilities operated by nonprofit, community-based providers. We’ve worked closely with them since then to push this legislation at the state house, recently testifying at a legislative hearing.
Working with over 50 organizations in our area that provide early childhood services in our neighborhoods, we know exactly how critical these programs are to working families. We also know through research that investing in young children and the environments where they spend their time is an investment in the future prosperity of the Commonwealth. Today’s children are tomorrow’s prosperity and it all begins with building young children’s brains.
The architecture of the human brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins at birth. Just as the building of a home follows a sequence, brain architecture is built and shaped by early experiences. A strong foundation early on increases the likelihood of positive outcomes. Brains get built through interactions with parents, caregivers, and community. These “back and forth” interactions literally wire their brains.
The context and environments where brain building happens matters. Good physical spaces enhance the quality of the interactions between educators and children, reduce behavior issues in classrooms, and promote the general health of those spending up to ten hours a day in these spaces. Most child care spaces were not originally designed as educational settings, and as a result, lack appropriate, safe, healthy facilities.
The state has demonstrated its commitment to quality care and education through current investments to ensure that kids enter school ready to learn, and to close the achievement gap, through the implementation of the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), and by leveraging federal resources such as Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge funding. This legislation would augment these investments by providing the means for those programs that serve our most vulnerable children to create effective, safe, and welcoming spaces to give these kids a good start. Additionally, it would enable facilities to more fully participate in QRIS, the state’s method of assessing quality in its early education and care and out of school time facilities.
We know what works. We know how to design and build effective high quality child care spaces. This bill will enable programs to have the funding to implement what has been proven effective. Children need programs that support their optimal development, and in the future, those children will repay the investment through a lifetime of productivity and responsible citizenship.

URL: http://speakunited.org/blog/russet+morrow/2013/05/slightly-different-kind-brain-building-how-bond-bill-can-support-early-ed

SourceSpeakUnited, a United Way Blog

Activists cite continuing demand in push for major spending on housing

ACTIVISTS CITE CONTINUING DEMAND IN PUSH FOR MAJOR SPENDING ON HOUSING

By Matt Murphy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 4, 2013…. Describing the housing market as “more stable” since the height of the foreclosure crisis, the Patrick administration’s top housing official on Thursday asked lawmakers to support a four-year $567 million spending program that he said will both create affordable housing and jobs.

“The construction of affordable housing leads to direct jobs and we have created 17,000 jobs through our programs since 2007,” said Aaron Gornstein, undersecretary for housing and economic development.

Gornstein testified Thursday before the Joint Committee on Housing at a hearing on Gov. Deval Patrick’s housing bond bill. The committee was also taking testimony on a similar five-year, $1 billion housing bond bill filed by the committee’s chairmen, Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) and Rep. Kevin Honan (D-Boston).

The administration’s bill also assumes that it will be able to spend the nearly $500 million in unspent affordable housing authorizations over the next several years. The Eldridge-Honan bill cancels previous unspent authorizations and outlines a new $1 billion plan.

One of the major differences between the administration’s bill and the Eldridge-Honan bill is a new $45 million Early Education and Out of School Time capital fund that the two lawmakers have proposed to support building new facilities and modernizing existing child care facilities catering to low-income children.

“I am pleased that the Joint Committee on Housing has recognized the importance of quality child care facilities in creating healthy and vibrant neighborhoods,” said Leo Delaney, president of the Massachusetts Association of Early Education and Care.

Gornstein said he has not spoken to Patrick about the proposed child care fund, but expressed some concern that capital spending on the education program from the DHCD budget would crowd out available resources for housing. He said it might be better for the program to be included under another secretariat’s bond cap.

Roger Herzog, executive director of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, called the child care fund a “critically important residential service to achieving financial independence” for low-income families.

Clark Ziegler, director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, said economic recovery has not alleviated the need for new affordable housing, citing Census data that showed 160,000 “extremely low-income” families in Massachusetts unable to find housing through the private market.

“The need has never been greater, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Ziegler told lawmakers.

He also lent his support to maintaining the $20 million authorization for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, a program currently under review as part of the Patrick administration’s overhaul of tax expenditures and one scheduled to decrease to $10 million.

Rep. Denise Provost, a Somerville Democrat, testified to the need for affordable housing, particularly in communities like Somerville. “One of the unfortunate ways Massachusetts is leading the nation is the gap between its richer and poorer residents,” Provost said.

Provost said the foreclosure crisis left many former market rate units “vacant and deteriorating” and called Attorney General Martha Coakley’s receivership programs for foreclosed property a good idea but a “glacially slow process” that leaves little option in most cases but to gut the properties and covert homes into high-end condominiums.

“We need to be producing housing which is affordable to people who work and raise families, not just the very wealthy who happen to come to our communities. God bless their success, but we need something besides this increasingly competitive market,” Provost said.

END
04/04/2013

Serving the working press since 1910 http://www.statehousenews.com

This article also appeared in the Hingham Journal and online on Wicked Local Hingham.

URL: http://www.wickedlocal.com/hingham/newsnow/x846079493/State-House-News-Activists-cite-continuing-demand-in-push-for-major-spending-on-housing#axzz2PsUZUnoU

SourceWicked Local Hingham

Activists cite continuing demand in push for major spending on housing

ACTIVISTS CITE CONTINUING DEMAND IN PUSH FOR MAJOR SPENDING ON HOUSING

By Matt Murphy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

“The need has never been greater, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Ziegler told lawmakers.

END
04/04/2013

Serving the working press since 1910 http://www.statehousenews.com

This article also appeared in the Hingham Journal and online on Wicked Local Hingham.

URL: http://www.wickedlocal.com/hingham/newsnow/x846079493/State-House-News-Activists-cite-continuing-demand-in-push-for-major-spending-on-housing#axzz2PsUZUnoU

SourceState House News Service

Child Care Providers Push For Public Financing For Facilities

Wednesday, April 3, 2013, 11:53am
Child Care Providers Push For Public Financing For Facilities
Nonprofit child care providers, parents, and others are asking state officials to allocated $45 million in funding as part of the state’s housing bond bill in order to renovate or build preschool and afterschool centers for children across the state.
Currently, one of the primary sources of financing for child care providers who want to renovate or update their facilities is the Children’s Investment Fund, which is managed by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), a public-private partnership. The fund has provided $10 million in financing for facilities upgrades over the past 20 years, but advocated say more money is needed.
“[Child care] providers want to ensure that their children have opportunities for healthy development and learning, but too often, those efforts are hampered by poor space,” said Mav Pardee, program manager for the fund, in a statement. “If they had greater access to capital resources, they could build space to support high quality programming. We’ve been pleased to help so many centers improve their physical plant, but we know there many still waiting for resources.”
In 2011, the Children’s Investment Fund released a study that assessed the state of childhood education facilities in Massachusetts. The research identified capital needs in both the physical condition and layout of many sites that undermine the Commonwealth’s ambitious educational policy goals.
Representatives from the United Way of Mass Bay and Merrimack Valley, the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council and the Massachusetts Association for Early Care and Education plan to testify in support of the bill at a hearing on Beacon Hill Thursday.

SourceBanker & Tradesman

At the January EEC Board Meeting

January 28, 2013
At the January EEC Board Meeting
by Irene Sege
The Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care voted to endorse a bond bill that includes $45 million in capital financing for non-profit providers of early education and out-of-school time services to build or renovate facilities. The bill follows the 2011 release of “Building an Infrastructure for Quality,” a report from Children’s Investment Fund, found shortcomings in safety, air quality, indoor space for physical activity and other measures.
Mav Pardee, director of the Children’s Investment Fund, updated the board on the Building Quality Campaign – a partnership comprised of the fund, Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CHAPA), and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. The bond financing for early education and out-of-school-time facilities is included in CHAPA’s $1.2 billion housing and community development bond bill. Representative Jeffrey Sanchez has filed a separate facilities financing bill with the same language as a placeholder.
The legislation would make financing available to licensed non-profit providers with at least a quarter of their enrollment children from low-income families. Financing would range from 50-80% of total development costs, based on the number of children eligible for subsidies, and would be in the form of permanent deferred loans for a term of 30 years. (See Pardee’s PowerPoint.)
The January 8 meeting was also the last for former Secretary of Education Paul Reville, who has returned to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Matthew Malone, former superintendent of the Brockton Public Schools, who was sworn in as the state’s new education secretary on January 14. JD Chesloff, chairman of the EEC board, presented Secretary Reville with a certificate of appreciation. Reville thanked the board and the entire early childhood field for what he termed their “inspiring commitment” to the young children of Massachusetts.
Emily Levine, our field and research associate, reports the board also discussed:
• Massachusetts Child Care Quality Cost Model. Consultants. Consultants Anne Mitchell of the Alliance for Early Childhood Finance, and Andrew Brodsky of Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, updated the board on an interactive model that allows users to cost out various elements of quality. It identifies factors that drive costs at various levels, from licensing through the tiers of the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). It also estimates the cost implications of changing reimbursement rates and identifies current and potential funding strategies to support quality.
• Using research to advance the practice and impact of early education. The board heard a presentation and panel discussion (panelist bios) on current research projects on the professional development system; strategies for literacy, social-emotional development, numeracy and digital learning; Massachusetts Common Metric (funded by the federal Early Learning Challenge grant); QRIS validation (ELC funded); and home visiting grant.
• FY13 legislative report framework. Carol Nolan, EEC’s recently hired director of policy, outlined the framework for the departments FY13 report to the Legislature. The department will frame the year’s accomplishments and planned activities around the board’s five-year strategic plan and indicators of success. The board will vote on the final report at its February meeting.
The board will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, February 18, at the EEC central office at 51 Sleeper Street in Boston.

URL: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2013/01/28/at-the-january-eec-board-meeting-2/

SourceEye on Early Education: A blog of Strategies for Children, Inc.

Highlight On: Children’s Investment Fund

November 21, 2012
Highlight On: Children’s Investment Fund
By hboyle
The Children’s Investment Fund (CIF) was founded in 1991, with a mission to help non-profits in Massachusetts to develop high quality facilities for early learning and youth programs. Their mission is grounded in the belief that children’s healthy growth and development depends on a safe physical environment. The quality of an early education program’s indoor and outdoor space contributes greatly to the overall quality of the child’s educational experience. For example, research demonstrates that facilities lacking in adequate space or appropriate heating and cooling systems detract from children’s ability to learn effectively.
CIF offers loans and grants to programs for renovation, expansion, and/or construction of new spaces for early education and youth programs. CIF’s loan programs offer borrowers more flexible terms then other lenders, and their grant programs include emergency facilities grants and small equipment grants. Since its inception, CIF has invested in 500 early childhood education(ECE) and out-of-school-time (OST) programs’ facilities improvement or expansion projects. This November, CIF distributed grants to six programs on the North Shore in the Lynn and Haverhill areas, for facilities improvements ranging from new windows to sinks in the classroom. In some cases, the grants made it possible for programs to apply for National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation and will help with QRIS compliance.
By targeting non-profit programs, CIF aims to impact programs serving high-needs children who are more apt to attend a non-profit ECE or OST program. In this way, BTWIC and CIF are aligned in their efforts to improve the quality of early education for this vulnerable population.
CIF has released several important papers and reports documenting the condition of early learning and youth program facilities in MA. Most recently, CIF published the report: Building an Infrastructure for Quality: An Inventory of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Time Facilities in MA. The report is available here.
CIF will file a bond bill for facilities financing in January 2013, either as a stand-alone bill or as part of a larger community development bond bill sponsored by another advocacy organization. The United Way of Massachusetts Bay and the Merrimack Valley has agreed to work with CIF in its “Building Quality” campaign with the goal of securing funding to support the development costs for ECE and OST facilities across the Commonwealth. A copy of the bill and more information will be available soon.
Posted in Early Learning
URL: http://www.btwic.org/2012/11/21/highlight-on-childrens-investment-fund/
© 2012 Bessie Tartt Wilson Initiative for Children Inc.

SourceBessie Tartt Wilson Initiative for Children Inc.

Poor Physical Space Compromises Quality

May 10, 2012
Poor Physical Space Compromises Quality
by Irene Sege
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston publishes a quarterly journal, Communities & Banking, which focuses on issues of concern to low- and moderate-income communities. We are pleased that early childhood is on the magazine’s radar screen. The Winter 2012 edition featured a story on the importance of third grade reading and Springfield’s citywide Read! Campaign to improve early literacy in the Western Massachusetts city. Now the Spring 2012 issue features a story – “Infrastructure Investment Begins with Children” – about efforts by the Children’s Investment Fund to improve the physical condition of early education and care facilities in Massachusetts.
Among community-based facilities the fund surveyed for its recent report, 34% had inadequate heating and cooling, 54% lacked indoor active play space, 20% had one or more classrooms without windows, 22% had indoor air with elevated levels of carbon dioxide, 70% had no classroom sinks, 22% lacked workspace for teachers, and 65% lacked technology for teachers.
“Massachusetts, like other states, has invested significant private and public resources in quality improvement for early care and education and out-of-school-time services, particularly for low-income children,” the Fed story notes. “But quality — and the physical infrastructure to support it — is critical to fulfilling the state’s aspirations for these children, and clearly, the resources to fix problems cannot be found in program operating budgets. Children’s Investment Fund has therefore begun to pursue options for improving facility quality, some near term, some longer term. It is working with the business community, public officials, community development organizations, and funders to ensure that early care and education and out-of-school-time programs can make improvements.”
The article, written by Children’s Investment Fund Director Mav Pardee, outlines some of the strategies being pursued to address the problem:
• Ensure that repairs and hazardous conditions are addressed by making small grants available to nonprofit providers.
• Encourage green environments by working with utility companies to address energy efficiency that can generate operating savings and create healthier indoor spaces.
• Work with community development resources to identify capital for ensuring that community infrastructure includes early care and education and out-of-school-time facilities.
• Work with public officials, researchers, and advocates to expand the definition of quality to include the physical plant as the foundation of other quality initiatives related to children’s health, development, and education.
“The issue is so urgent and the potential benefits so high,” Pardee concludes, “that we need to find the public will to create affordable and sustainable financing to improve the buildings where the most vulnerable Massachusetts children spend their childhoods.”
URL: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2012/05/10/poor-physical-space-compromises-quality/

SourceEye on Early Education Blog

Waltham Day Care Center gets a boost

March 21, 2012
Waltham Day Care Center gets a boost
By Ignacio Laguarda

WALTHAM — The Waltham Day Care Center once typified the problems plaguing most day care centers in the state, but now, it stands as an example of how to adapt.
The 39-year-old day care center recently received an $180,000 grant to renovate its space, located in the basement of the First Parish Church in Waltham on Church Street.
Most of the money came from the Children’s Investment Fund, a statewide organization that doles out money to early-childhood education and out-of-school-time centers to improve their facilities, and also provides technical assistance and training to nonprofit groups.
The fund released a study a few months ago detailing how many day care centers in the state fail to meet basic requirements, and randomly chose 182 sites to examine.
The fund found that many needed to improve in health and safety conditions for their students and teachers.
For example, the study found that fewer than 15 percent of programs serving preschool children are in spaces designed for early childhood education and less than 10 percent are adequate for school-aged children.
Further, between 12 percent and 26 percent of the sites do not meet building code requirements either for walls, floors, windows or the roof.
The most common violation was in the condition of the floors, and only one of the centers met accessibility requirements for the disabled.
The study also found that one out of every five classrooms had no exterior windows and the same percentage had insufficient ventilation.
Before the renovation, the Waltham Day Care Center suffered from many of these problems, including inadequate learning spaces, poor air quality and an inefficient floor plan.
On Friday, Feb. 24, representatives from the day care center, Children’s Investment Fund, and state Reps. Thomas Stanley and Alice Peisch, took a tour of the renovated facilities.
Peisch represents Wellesley and is the chair of the education committee in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Cameron Tucker, former director of the Waltham Day Care Center, led the tour.
The Waltham Day Care Center serves low and moderate-income families, and currently serves 38 children, from 1 to 5 years old, in three classrooms.
Tucker said that one of the most dramatic improvements to the center is right behind the main door. In the past, anyone who entered through the door would walk right into the preschool classroom.
“All of the children would jump up and run and greet you,” said Tucker. “That was a tough way to teach a classroom.”
To address the problem, the renovation created a hallway entrance, with an office where the preschool class used to be, and moved the preschool class to another location.
“It really did allow for a different kind of attention when you have an enclosed classroom like that,” said Tucker.
Another major improvement was installing new bathrooms, to replace the previous restroom that was completely separated from the center. The walk to the bathroom was so long, the center employed a person to escort students.
New windows were also brought in, as well as lights, and the floors were all torn up and replaced with new plumbing.
Tucker said the renovations had a major effect on the students and the teachers.
“When you allow a teacher to just teach instead of manage, they get a greater sense of professionalism and that leads to an increased sense of teamwork,” she said.
She said the majority of families who use the day care center are either from Waltham or work in the city.
“We are one of the great secrets of Waltham,” she said.
Mav Pardee, the director of the Children’s Investment Fund, said inadequate learning spaces causes a number of problems for students and teachers.
For instance, because many day care centers are in renovated spaces such as churches, acoustics can be an issue.
“If children can’t hear what the adults articulate, they’re not getting the kind of support they are at a critical period in language development,” she said.
Pardee said air quality is another major issue, and can hurt students with asthma.
Having sinks in classrooms can also prevent the spread of viruses. The center did not have sinks in the rooms before the renovation.
Pardee said there needs to be a public funding mechanism to help schools that do not have the money to make renovations through long-term, low cost loans.
“The problem is big enough, and widespread enough and important enough that I think we all in society have an investment in where these children go to school,” she said. “Part of quality improvement is making sure kids are spending their day in a space that really supports their teacher’s ability to do their job, makes them feel good about themselves and makes their parents feel very confident.”
Ignacio Laguarda can be reached at 781-398-8004 or ilaguarda@wickedlocal.com.

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