Center spread
West Central Community Center Director Don Higgins had planned a Sept. 23 groundbreaking ceremony for the 9,600-square-foot expansion project at the south end of the center, but unlike most construction projects, the crew was ahead of schedule and had already poured concrete in the area. Higgins is happy to wait for a grand-opening ceremony in March or April instead. The $3.76 million project at 1603 N. Belt St. also includes remodeling 5,000 feet of the existing 21,000-square-foot building.
One resident looking forward to the expansion is Challys Resta, who lives on the South Side, works in the Valley and drives across town five days a week to take her 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, to the center’s before- and after-school program.
She doesn’t think twice about the drive. Jessica, now a fifth-grader at Audubon Elementary, has been coming to the center since she was 5.
Resta said she’s excited about the center’s expansion and the fact that even more families will benefit from the services offered there.
“It’s been a real blessing for me. We wouldn’t be able to help ourselves without them. They do an incredible job. I’m glad that they’re going to be able to help the community even more,” said Resta, a single mom.
Higgins said the goal of the community center is to provide families with a healthy and safe environment for their children, from prenatal through high school. The expansion will allow all the center’s services to be offered under one roof.
Deaconess Women’s Clinic, which has been housed in a modular building on the property under a temporary use permit since 1993, will lease about 2,000 square feet in the new addition.
The clinic offers prenatal care, family planning, well-woman care and free pregnancy testing. Three certified nurse midwives deliver about 200 of their client’s babies each year at Deaconess Medical Center. The clinic serves women from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
The Women, Infants and Children Program will be moved to a remodeled area of the building with a separate lab, large classroom, offices and waiting area. The program provides nutritional counseling and vouchers for specific foods to low-income women and their babies through age 5.
The education piece of the puzzle begins with the Head Start program which now will be able to accept infants when they are 6 weeks old and until they start first grade.
Children attending Holmes and Audubon elementaries can participate in the before- and after-school program. Parents can drop them off on their way to work and the community center will take them to school and pick them up afterward, bringing them back to the center for a variety of activities, including computer lab, sports, ballet, arts and crafts, Girl Scouts and a program called Smart Choices, which talks to kids about not using drugs and making good decisions. Fees are based on a sliding scale.
There will be three Head Start Program rooms to better serve infants, toddlers and preschool children. The center will contract with a private day-care provider that will offer care for children during nontraditional hours.
Kristina Williams has worked in the Women, Infants and Children Program at the center for more than five years. She has seen the drawings for the building expansion and remodeling.
“I’m so excited. It’s amazing. One day there’s no parking lot; the next day there’s a parking lot. The expansion will be great for the center. I’m really excited about having an all-day day care here,” said Williams.
Williams said that the WIC program will probably continue to serve the 1,900 clients it now serves, but having more space and privacy will be great.
Williams’ 10-year-old son attends Audubon Elementary School and the West Central Community Center’s before- and after-school program. Her 13-year-old daughter also has benefited from the center’s programs over the years.
“I really depend on the community center. Without it I would be lost. I don’t have anybody who could come and watch my child for an hour in the morning, take them to school and pick them up at 3 p.m. and take them home.
“I would have thought my kids would eventually burn out on the center, but even at the end of summer, my son is pestering me to take him there. They would rather go to the center than stay at home,” said Williams.
Williams said she and her husband plan their holiday activities around special events that the center offers at Halloween, Christmas and Easter. These events have become part of their family traditions.
The center plays a big part in Resta and her daughter’s lives as well. “They have holiday parties every year, celebrations where the whole family can come. It doesn’t cost anything, and it’s great to be able to do things with your child.
“It’s hard being a single mom, working and not having a very large income to be able to provide your child with everything you would like to. The center allows me to have day care for an affordable amount so I can hopefully provide her with the clothes she needs for school, etc., as well as some fun activities that I may not normally be able to provide.”