Space matters: Massachusetts invests in improving early education buildings and facilities

This summer, Massachusetts awarded $4 million in grants to help early education and after-school programs improve their physical spaces. The money comes from the Early Education and Care and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund, which was created by the state Legislature.

As we’ve blogged before, engaging classrooms, lively safe playgrounds, and well-designed bathrooms are some of the key features that create nurturing environments for young children.

But programs often can’t afford the costs of badly needed construction and renovations. That’s why these capital improvement funds are so important.

In a statement, Governor Charlie Baker said, “Renovating and repairing facilities helps achieve our goal of improving the quality of early education and care.”

Massachusetts’ Secretary of Education James Peyser said. “We know that building deficiencies impact the quality of teaching and learning in early childhood and out-of-school time facilities. These grants were created to help non-profit providers serving children living in low-income communities improve their facilities.”

Administered by the Children’s Investment Fund, an affiliate of CEDAC (the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation), the grant funds were given to four organizations:

Citizens for Citizens, Fall River, $1 million

The funds will pay for “playground improvements, window replacements, and critical safety and security upgrades to an existing Head Start program in a 118-year-old building,” according to the Children’s Investment Fund.

Crispus Attucks Children’s Center, Dorchester, $1 million

The center “will replace the HVAC system and make building envelope upgrades. It also plans to improve the design of its infant area and reconfigure toddler classrooms.

Elizabeth Stone House, Roxbury, $1 million

The funds will be used to build “a 5-story multi-service building which will include 32 units of affordable housing and a licensed early childhood education (ECE) program serving 51 children.”

Holyoke-Chicopee-Springfield Head Start, Springfield, $1 million

Head Start officials plan to build “an Educare model facility for 141 ECE children.”

All four organizations “serve publicly subsidized families, have demonstrated financial need, and have secured additional funding to pay for a portion of their project costs,” the statement from Governor Baker’s office explains.

The benefits of these efforts will be substantial. As Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito explained, “High-quality programs help young children develop healthy learning habits, which is good for the community and for our Commonwealth as a whole.”

And as Tom Weber, commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care, adds, “We are pleased to make these awards as this public investment in building construction and renovation of early education programs will benefit children, local communities, and the state for years to come.”

SourceEye on Early Education

State investing $1 million for Fall River CFC Head Start renovations

The little preschoolers in the Citizens for Citizens’ Head Start program probably won’t notice the new fire suppression system, windows or paint in the building, but their parents can feel good about those safety and aesthetic updates.

CFC was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the state’s Community Economic Development Assistance Corp. It was one of four $1 million capital improvement grants awarded state-wide to child care agencies that serve children from low-income families.

The grants, awarded on behalf of the Baker-Polito administration, are to make critical facility repairs and renovations to improve the environments used by young children.

“This floor will be renovated,” said Pamela Wildnauer, CFC’s Head Start and Early Head Start director, standing on the first level of the former Aldrich School, 295 Harrison St.

The Aldrich School was an elementary school built in 1920. CFC has been using the building since the 1980s for its Head Start program.

“We really haven’t had the funding to do much over the years,” Wildnauer said.

Some 200 children attend CFC Head Start in the Aldrich School building during the school year, just about to get underway after Labor Day. A smaller program runs during the summer.

Wildnauer said the school that has “great bones, great architecture” will be updated with a new electrical system, fire suppression system, fire doors, new flooring, and replacement windows.

“The opportunity presented itself for capital improvement funding,” Wildnauer said.

She said it would allow CFC to offer its families a high quality space for education that is “safe and healthy.”

Once the major repairs — to take place next summer — are finished, Wildnauer is hoping there will be funds left to update the basement for rainy-day activities when the children can’t go outside, for a conference room, and to enclose the kitchen.

The kitchen is used to prepare more than 400 meals each day for the children in Head Start programs at the Aldrich School, as well as CFC’s Robeson Street site, and other smaller sites in the city and in Swansea.

The basement space is also used for free GED classes for parents of Head Start children. Besides class, they receive free transportation, child care and meals.

Repairs were made to the second floor and playground last year with grant funding.

“It’s nice and homey, more comfortable,” said teacher assistant Dawn Mello, working to set up her second-floor classroom.

In the next phase, CFC will seek grant funding for a new heating and air conditioning system. Other repairs needed include a new roof at the Robeson Street building.

The three other child care facilities to receive a $1 million grant are located in Dorchester, Roxbury and Springfield. The grant was awarded by the Department of Early Education & Care through the Early Education & Care & Out of School Time Capital Fund.

“With these grants, we will improve the learning environments of our youngest children, boost the capacity of programs to serve more children and create new jobs,” Gov. Charlie Baker said in a press release. “Renovating and repairing facilities helps achieve our goal of improving the quality of early education and care.”

To learn more about CFC’s Head Start program, visit http://cfcinc.org.

Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com

SourceThe Herald News

Baker-Polito Administration Awards $4 Million for Early Education Programs

The Baker-Polito Administration and the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) today announced $4 million in grant awards for facility improvements at early education and care programs that serve low income children. Four agencies were selected to receive an Early Education and Care and Out of School Time (EEOST) capital improvement grant, which will help increase the quality of their early education programs through critical facility repairs and renovations.

Governor Charlie Baker made the announcement today at the Crispus Attucks Children’s Center in Dorchester, the site of one of the facilities funded by the 2018 grant awards.

“With these grants, we will improve the learning environments of our youngest children, boost the capacity of programs to serve more children and create new jobs,” Governor Charlie Baker said. “Renovating and repairing facilities helps achieve our goal of improving the quality of early education and care.”

“These capital improvement grants support facility construction and renovations that modernize early education spaces and provide more enriching environments for children,” Lt. Governor Karyn Polito said. “High-quality programs help young children develop healthy learning habits, which is good for the community and for our Commonwealth as a whole.”

“We know that building deficiencies impact the quality of teaching and learning in early childhood and out-of-school time facilities,” Education Secretary James Peyser said. “These grants were created to help non-profit providers serving children living in low-income communities improve their facilities.”

The Early Education and Care and Out of School Time capital improvement grants are financed through the state’s capital budget and provide matching funds that leverage private investment. The Baker-Polito Administration’s FY18 Capital Budget Plan included $4 million for the Early Education and Out of School Time grant program. In May, Governor Baker signed An Act Financing the Production and Preservation of Housing for Low and Moderate Income Residents (H.4536), which authorized $45 million for the EEOST Capital Fund.

“The EEOST capital improvement grants provide critical funding for non-profit early education programs to upgrade their facility spaces and provide better physical environments for the children they serve,” Early Education and Care Commissioner Tom Weber said. “We are pleased to make these awards as this public investment in building construction and renovation of early education programs will benefit children, local communities, and the state for years to come.”

“The EEOST Capital Fund is helping providers create well-designed facilities that support children’s healthy development and learning, and the commitment and effectiveness of educators,” said Theresa Jordan, Director of Children’s Facilities Finance of Children’s Investment Fund. “Over time, this innovative capital resource has the potential to transform the early care and education and out-of-school time landscape for the neediest and most vulnerable children in the Commonwealth.”

The following organizations received grants:

Lead Agency	Service Area	Award
Citizens for Citizens	Fall River	$1,000,000
Crispus Attucks Children’s Center	Dorchester	$1,000,000
Elizabeth Stone House	Roxbury	$1,000,000
Holyoke-Chicopee-Springfield Head Start	Springfield	$1,000,000

“All of us at Crispus Attucks Children’s Center are grateful, excited and humbled to be receiving generous and much-needed funding from the Department of Early Education and Care,” said Maritza Juliao, Executive Director of Crispus Attucks Children’s Center. “For nearly fifty years, Crispus Attucks has been providing quality early childhood education at an affordable price to some of Boston’s most vulnerable children and families. Our facilities are in critical need of upgrades and improvements so that we may sustain our mission, and this grant will enable us to give our buildings the attention they need so that we as educators can focus our attention on our dearest assets: the children and families we serve.”

All of the programs selected to receive a grant award serve publicly subsidized families, have demonstrated financial need, and have secured additional funding to pay for a portion of their project costs. The Department of Early Education and Care partnered with CEDAC’s affiliate, the Children’s Investment Fund, to administer the grant awards. All of the grantees are non-profit corporations or organizations in which a non-profit corporation has a controlling interest.

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SourceGovernor's Office