Mayor Michelle Wu, Office of Economic Opportunity & Inclusion, Boston Public Schools, and the Office of Early Childhood celebrated the ceremonial ground breaking of a new child care center in Mattapan, funded by the City of Boston’s SPACE Grant program. With this funding from the SPACE Grant, childcare provider and entrepreneur Dawne Brown is able to open a second childcare location – Brown Bear Excel Academy – which will serve 33 children ages 3 to 5 in Mattapan. The center will also employ 15 staff.
In addition to celebrating the expansion of child care in Mattapan, the Mayor also announced a new one-stop shop to find and enroll in childcare across the City of Boston. The new online portal, Great Starts, provides information on more than 800 providers in Boston who serve young children ages birth to five. Great Starts is designed to offer families a streamlined, simplified dashboard of all childcare options.
“We can’t wait to see this space filled with children who are playing, laughing and learning. This is one of the parts of the city where we have been working so hard to make sure that there’s much needed childcare that is affordable and available to residents,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “This has been my dream since I was pregnant with my first child. As of today, the City of Boston has launched a new online portal called Great Starts, so now there is a one-stop shop to find childcare anywhere in the city for your kids.”
Brown Bear Excel Academy will be located on land leased from the MBTA and developed by Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH)/Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation as a transit-oriented community. The existing building contains 135 affordable rental apartments and had a grand opening last year. Adding a childcare center to the neighborhood will enhance the quality of life for those who live nearby and provide a highly desired amenity.
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Photo by Mel Miller