Inside the Feigenbaum Center For Science and Innovation Monday morning, MCLA Board of Trustees Chair Buffy Lord said the funding would impact not just the public college but the broader Northern Berkshire community.
“We have students that have children and they need help making it to class," she told WAMC. "This is something that can help them. This is something that can help students preparing to go into a career in early childhood earn some of those credit hours for that. It's also a place for the community, where hopefully they'll be able to find early child care as well. It is a real problem in Berkshire County for those with young children.”
The funding was secured by Democratic Congressman Richard Neal of the 1st Massachusetts District.
“During the pandemic, a number of women, when finally having to make the decision between going back to work and caring for a child, they stayed home," he said. "They stayed home. And it's been a very stubborn part of our recovery, trying to figure out, as the Y and MCLA does in partnership here, trying to figure out how to get them back into the workforce.”
The money is coming to MCLA through Congressionally Directed Spending from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
MCLA has a student body of just under 1,000 in one of the commonwealth’s most impoverished and rural counties, and is one of just two public higher ed institutions in the region alongside Berkshire Community College.
“There are some very stubborn forces in the work force, really stubborn forces, that are hard to overcome, and I think that's part of the challenge that the first generation feels by coming to MCLA," the Democrat continued. "That's the challenge that the Y and others offer, but $1.2 million here on campus is going to make a big deal for that parent, gives them some confidence and security."
MCLA President James Birge – who is preparing to step down this year after a decade leading the college – says the Early Education Center project symbolizes a wider mission for the liberal arts, especially as similar colleges around the Northeast shutter due to financial strains.
“For us it is a matter of extending that public purpose of American higher education," he told WAMC. "How can we bring our resources to bear to support our communities? And so this funding from Congressman Neal helps us think about what else could we do, how could we provide more opportunities for people to have access to early education. And because we have a robust education department here at the institution, this becomes also an additional teaching environment for our students, so that they get really good experiences, so they go out into our communities and they're great early educators.”
