Construction of innovative early education center starts

Sept. 20, 2018 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito displays welcome signs made by head Start students at the groundbreaking of the new Educare early education school.
Photo by James Lagone

SPRINGFIELD – After a process that has taken more than five years, ground was officially broken on the 24th Educare early education school on Sept. 17 in a lot owned by Springfield College next to the Elias Brookings Elementary School.

John Davis of the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation explained the foundation made a commitment in 2004 to “advocate for high quality early education.”

He noted there is a 30 percent economic return investing in early education.

“Young children living in poverty face challenges that make it difficult to stay on track with their peers. For this reason, Educare Centers use research-based, high-quality practices to help children develop the academic and social-emotional skills essential for success in school and life. Educare also provides support and education to open up endless possibilities for whole families,” the organization’s website states.

Mary Walachy, executive director of the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation that led the effort to bring Educare here, described Educare as “Head Start on steroids.”

Walachy described the multi-year process as a collaboration between a long list of education agencies such as Holyoke Chicopee Springfield Head Start and Springfield College; government and foundation funders such as the MassWorks Infrastructure Program, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and the MassMutual Foundation and the use of New Market Tax Credits; as well the generosity of a single donor who contributed $9.6 million.

She said the foundation’s board originally looked at the possibility of bringing the school here and then “walked away” when considering the cost. Walachy readily admitted, “This was a risk for the board of the Davis Foundation.”

She added it was a “series of coincidences,” including the donation of $9.6 million that set the project along its way.  

The project has a budget of $13.6 million, she said, and $13 million has been raised.

When completed next fall, the school will serve 141 students. The new facility will create approximately 110 construction jobs, 46 existing Head Start jobs, and an additional 10 jobs within the first two years of operation, according to the Executive Office of Education.

Cynthia Jackson, executive director, Educare Learning Network, said, “our schools serve as places of innovation and learning” and become in the communities they serve “beacons of hope.”

She described the Educare approach as being a laboratory school with “an ongoing quality improvement atmosphere.”

Mayor Domenic Sarno said about the investment the school represents, “The more money you put in on the front, the better you’re going to get on the final for children and students.”

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