Four new Head Start facilities are opening soon throughout the Bronx, marking the nonprofit Grand St. Settlement’s first foray into the borough in a collaborative effort to expand the city’s childcare offerings.
The Bronx Times stopped by on May 12 for an exclusive preview of a center opening this fall at 2305 White Plains Rd. in the Pelham Parkway neighborhood. Located on the ground floor of a new 50-unit apartment building — the majority of which are occupied by Section 8 voucher holders — the new Head Start center has already registered at least five families who will simply go downstairs for their commute to school.
Pelham Parkway is often stereotyped as a wealthy Bronx neighborhood, but there is no less demand for low-cost, quality childcare in that area, said Carolina Capellan, Bronx regional director for Head Start.
“This [location] was not the usual choice, but it’s good that it gets highlighted because childcare is needed in every single New York neighborhood,” Capellan said.
The center will be ready to welcome young kids in September, with mainly cosmetic touches remaining. The last of the new furniture was wheeled in in massive boxes, and small chairs and toilets for the kids were already in place, as were cabinets and sinks lining the walls of the new classrooms.
Once finished, each new Head Start center will be “not a franchise” but reflective of the surrounding neighborhood—in this case, the nearby Bronx Zoo and Botanical Garden, said Grand St. CEO Robert Cordero. Some of the walls were already painted in calming, nature-inspired shades of green and blue, and the whole place will be decorated with a theme of butterflies and bugs.
“We want to be partnered with the community, reflect the community,” Cordero said.
The Pelham Parkway center came together in about a year, as the building owner enthusiastically supported having an in-house childcare center and worked with Grand St. to get it done quickly, said Cordero.
It seemed to be quite the selling point, as staff worked a table outside to inform passersby of the new offering and took down several names for the waitlist.
The center will serve 67 children ages 2 to 4 and will employ 25 adult staffers, including two in-house family advocates. Teachers, assistants and custodians are still needed, and Grand St. is offering signing bonuses and tuition benefits for those who want to earn a master’s in early childhood education, in hopes of incentivizing people to stay at Head Start instead of leaving for jobs with the Department of Education. Capellan and Cordero said they especially hope to hire parents and other family members of the Head Start students.
“Family as part of the community” is crucial to the Head Start model, said Capellan.
In a time when federal funding for nearly any program is uncertain, the proven track record of Head Start, now celebrating its 60th year, should help insulate it from potential funding cuts, said Cordero. “We’re okay as of now.”
The program has served 38 million children and their families nationwide and has fostered better outcomes in nearly every aspect of life. Kids who attend Head Start are more likely to attend college, show appropriate academic, social and emotional development and become better parents themselves later in life, government reports show.
Though Cordero said he worries about the thousands of New York City kids who would be at risk if any federal funding was pulled, he remains optimistic that the new Pelham Parkway Head Start center — along with the ones in West Farms, Jerome Avenue, Mott Haven and Sunset Park West, Brooklyn — will open this fall without a hitch, allowing each to become “a mini community center” that benefits the whole neighborhood, he said.
A ribbon cutting for Grand St. Head Start Pelham Parkway will take place this fall.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
