Long-awaited, $20M childcare facility opens in Tacoma. Have a look inside
After years of fundraising, planning and construction, the wait is finally over.
The Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center’s new $20.9 million, 32,000-square-foot childcare center at 2102 S. 23rd St. in Tacoma is ready to open.
Soon after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new center on July 1, it will be ready to accept up to 300 kids and 60 staff members – filling a vital need for accessible childcare in Tacoma and making a dent in the organizations’ two-and-a-half year waiting list.
Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center executive director Gail Neal said she’s excited for families to be able to use the new center.
“It feels like it’s still not real,” Neal told The News Tribune. “It feels unbelievable.”
The two-story facility, called the Cora Whitley Family Center, is named for Neal’s mom, who died in 2014. Neal said her mom loved the kids and families she worked with at the center, and they loved her back.
“Everybody wanted to do a tribute to her. They talked about it a lot, but I just couldn’t decide what we were going to do,” Neal said. “After we started talking about the center, and me and her used to talk about dreams of one day building a new center, I decided that that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to build a center in honor of my mom.”
The center will provide childcare in a county where only 19.8% of low-income families receive early learning services, according to the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families.
It also comes amid larger efforts to maintain and expand childcare in Pierce County. County leaders recently approved new zoning changes to make it easier to open new childcare facilities, and Tacoma Public Schools recently announced its plans to maintain some version of the beloved after-school programs that Parks Tacoma recently eliminated funding for.
Neal said she’s most excited about the 3,700-square-foot gym and basketball court, and the windows in each classroom. The organization’s current childcare center in Hilltop, which will remain in operation when the new center opens, doesn’t have enough windows to let in natural light.
The new center includes a break room that’s dedicated for staff to use.
“We have a space for our staff for the first time,” community engagement director Sarah Irish told The News Tribune. “They’re going to have a staff room with a beautiful sun-roof patio.”
The center will serve kids from three months to 12 years, Irish told The News Tribune. The classrooms are designed with their own bathroom, sink and outdoor space – to minimize the effort usually required for instructors to lead kids to shared bathrooms and shared playground spaces. The exterior of each classroom is designed to look like the exterior of a home – giving the hallways the feeling of a “village,” Irish said.
Neal said that both families and staff are excited for the new center to officially open. Not only will more families get the care they need, staff will get more space to do their jobs.
“They absolutely love it. They’re excited about it,” Neal said.
Though the Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center covered costs for the project through grants and donations, it’s still short on funds to fully stock the building with furniture, Neal said. It plans to open for students in mid-July, she said, but the organization is looking to raise $190,000 to pay for classroom furniture.
Visit mcfhc.org to learn more about the Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center. To donate to the furniture fundraiser, visit the organization’s website.
