Message From Our Executive Director, Betty Kinsman
The Springfield Area Parent Child Center (SAPCC) celebrated its 15th anniversary last fall and I’d like to share a brief overview of our journey. It’s been a fruitful one.
In July 1991, following a survey of area families which revealed that families were looking for ‘parenting support, access to early childhood education and “a place to gather”’, the PCC began in the basement of Park Street School with two part-time staff, very little money, and strong support from community members, human services staff, school administrators, legislators and parents. In the space shared with Essential Early Ed (EEE) staff, we offered two parenting classes and a “Community Resource Manual” listing available services and programs in the area –a short list compared to the offerings of other Parent Child Centers in other parts of the state.
In 1992, we expanded services, outgrew the basement space and purchased a building on Myrtle Street in Springfield. By 1996, only four short years after expanding, we had grown out of the Myrtle Street building and began searching for a new location to accommodate the increased staff and program offerings. The former "Springfield Decorating Center" in North Springfield became our new home in 1997 and a child care center, Learning Partners, was opened in the Howard Dean Education Center was opened in 2002. Our successful thrift store and job training site, Myrtle's Closet, remained on Myrtle Street until 2005 when renovations to the North Springfield building were complete. The renovations also allowed for another expansion of our child care services to include additional infant and toddler care, a much-needed service in the area.
Consolidating all of our administrative, educational and job-training programs to one location has benefited the popular Learning Together program. Six students recently graduated from Learning Together; with two receiving awards and scholarships for excellence from their sponsoring high schools.
Today, in our sixteenth year, we offer a variety of services for parents and young children. We've grown to a staff of 30 – and more when you add part time substitutes and volunteers, including a volunteer board of directors. We’ve outgrown two buildings and our board of directors has taken on the huge challenge of planning a new building to accommodate and expand the services that we offer to families and child care providers in the southern Windsor and northern Windham counties.
Over the next few years we will be hosting special fundraising events to raise the money needed for expanded programs and a new building to make continued expansion possible. The next fundraising event will take place on September 6, 2008 in celebration of the remarkable journey. For more information, call Jill or Betty at 802-886-5242.
Many thanks to the Springfield School District, especially Steve Hier and Joyce DuBack for all they did for us during our early years. We deeply appreciate all the efforts of the initial dedicated group including Ruth Kibby, Lynn Boyle, Joyce DuBack, Leslie Harrison, Jan Crow, Corey Mitchell, Dick McCormack, Tom Hunter, Alice Emmons, Jeanice Garfield, Lori Gurney, past and present board members, and many other volunteers who work so hard to bring these vital services to families in our region and who made the Springfield Area PCC possible.
