The opening of a new community center was celebrated Wednesday in downtown Troy.
Bridging two buildings together, Troy’s Commission on Economic Opportunity, a nonprofit that supports low-income residents, celebrated the completion of an $8 million expansion to the Community Resource Center. The 18,000-square foot space houses three Head Start classrooms, the Troy Youth Alliance, parenting classes, and more. Commission head Sue Rosa says supporting at-risk youth is vital to creating a safe and welcoming community.
“We also have a collaboration with the Troy School District for the universal pre-K program. And so out of this building, there are six classrooms that are for low-income individuals, income qualified students that come in and their families get support services as part of that. Head Start is a wraparound program. It has the nutrition component, it has the family advocacy component and health components, in addition to the extra support that’s pushed into the classroom for the kids that we serve.”
CEO has 15 programs and eight locations across Rensselaer County. Rosa says Head Start, a federal program, serves more than 50 kids locally from newborn to 5 years old. Head Start supports conducts screenings and assessments to ensure progress and supports children with disabilities. It also provides mental health services for children and families in need.
During the pandemic, CEO says it was unable to keep up with community needs. Rosa says programs are flourishing with the expansion, allowing CEO to serve its purpose of reducing poverty and helping people become self-sufficient.
“It's kind of a one-stop shop where you can drop your child off on the first floor, go across the hall, go to get food pantry assistance, you can get your WIC voucher, you can then come and get some digital or community education classes,” Rosa said.
Republican Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello says the expansion of social programs keeps kids active and off the streets.
“This is a cornerstone of revitalizing our neighborhood one block at a time,” Mantello said.
The new building also houses a new playground and an outdoor pavilion. The project received $6 million through the Community Development Block Grant CARES Act, administered through the state’s Homes and Community Renewal Department. An additional $262,000 was granted through the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
The New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute implements several statewide initiatives including the Quality Rating and Improvement System, which assesses early childhood education programs
The Institute’s Dona Anderson says as the nation continues to recover from education losses during the pandemic, New York has been thoughtful with its implementation of systems to support children and families.
“The next step with that is simply to invest in those systems and to continue to invest in those systems,” Anderson said. “So that every child, every 4-year-old, whether they're in a home-based provider up in the North Country, or if they're in a center in Westchester or they're in a school in the Bronx, has the same access to quality.”
Anderson says one way to continue ensuring quality care is improving pay. Rosa says CEO is doing everything it can to fill its 14 teacher openings, running a program that will help those interested complete required workforce training.
