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Bridget Delaney-Messana, Director of Child Care Services at Cape Cod Child Development, speaks at the grand opening of the agency’s new center in Teaticket, as Anne Colwell, CEO of Cape Cod Child Development, and State Representative David Vieira, listen.
TEATICKET – Amid colorful construction paper cutouts and children playing, Cape Cod Child Development held a grand opening at its new space for its School Aged Program on Teaticket Highway in Falmouth yesterday.
The child care program had to move from its previous space near the East Falmouth CVS because of a construction project to build a new CVS at the Davisville plaza.
The facility’s new home is at the former Cape Cod Church. The church property had been for sale when the congregation moved to its new larger home on Route 151. But the pastor chose to rent to the child care center instead of selling the property.
Cape Cod Child Development President and CEO Anne Colwell said they are pleased with the new space.
“We’re very excited about this particular space. It offers us much more outdoor space for the children, which is really important in our program. We’re really happy to be here and happy to open this new facility,” she said.
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Staff at the new Teaticket facility for Cape Cod Child Development include Jaisa Suarez, center director Katie Ballah, Denise Lyons, and Josh Clifford.
The child care program takes up about half the church space, using three classrooms and the outdoor space, she said.
The facility will serve 40 children ages five to twelve. It is licensed by the state to serve a specific number of children, but Bridget Delaney-Messana, director of child care services for Cape Cod Child Development, said that they are hoping to get permission within the next few months to increase the number of children they serve in order to have eight more slots available.
Cape Cod Child Development is a $12 million nonprofit that serves over 1,000 families a day in the form of child care, educational and developmental intervention and family support services.
Colwell said the Teaticket facility will serve as “wrap around” care, providing early morning, afternoon and school vacation care for children.
“There’s such a great need for childcare in this area and particularly for the families that are working two or three jobs trying to make ends meet. Being able to provide that consistent, safe environment that they seek for their children is critically important,” she said.
Having the outdoor space will also allow the nonprofit to offer a summer camp program for children ages five to twelve, she said.
State Representative David Vieira, who attended elementary school at the nearby Teaticket School, was at the grand opening to praise the facility. He said he and other legislators are working on how to expand access to universal pre-kindergarten programs and he sees Cape Cod Child Development playing a role.
“Personally, I’m a supporter of a mixed delivery system with nonprofit organizations such as Cape Cod Child Development that have been doing this work for decades to be able to take their resources and expertise and to create public private partnerships, so that not only do we have a good classroom experience but the experience has wrap-around services for families in need and not just the classroom experience itself,” he said.
Vieira said, now that the facility is in the Teaticket school district instead of East Falmouth, there will need to be transportation for East Falmouth children to the facility. He said he is looking forward to working with the Falmouth School Committee to adjust the bus contracts so that children can be dropped off at the new facility after school. He said he believes Cape Cod Child Development can share in the cost of that bus service but that it is important to bring both sides to the table.
Vieira, who utilizes child care for his three-year-old daughter Emma, said getting the word out to families about services like Cape Cod Child Development is critical.
“The need is larger than whose knocking at the door,” he said. “When we look at MCAS scores and we look at the achievement gap, the only way that we can really address those issues is by making sure that young children have access to quality early education and care so that they are prepared to enter kindergarten and prepared to enter the competitive educational environment.”
By LAURA M. RECKFORD, CapeCod.com News Editor
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