The transformation of a New Haven cinema to a child care center is underway — and almost ready for students.
The former Cine-4 theater on Flint Street is being redeveloped into classrooms and an office space for Friends Center For Children, a New Haven-based organization.
The center already serves more than 100 kids across two locations in New Haven. They have three more locations in the works, including the campus on Flint Street.
Construction is being done in three phases. Phase one was renovating the old theater, which began last summer. Phase two, a new building for classrooms and a library, broke ground on Tuesday.
The center’s executive director, Allyx Schiavone, celebrated the milestone with a tour of the site.
“It is the next step in our growth,” Schiavone said. “It is a vision that we have collectively been able to turn into a reality. Its expansion represents not just new, but much-needed spots for infants and toddlers, but also it represents the fact that Friend Center’s model is working.”
The model that Schiavone references is part of phase three — that is building on-site housingfor teachers to help offset the cost of living for staff. She said it’s part of a larger push to reimagine the sector to better work for families and educators.
“Families in Connecticut spend 19 to 20% of their household income on child care. On average, child care workers are making $29,500 in our state. We are paying early childhood educators to live in poverty, they're leaving the industry,” Schiavone said.
“We are short 4,000 early childhood educators. Right now in Connecticut, one in seven positions are unfilled. No teachers means closed classrooms. Closed classrooms mean families don't have reliable childcare and therefore can't work,” she added.
That, she said, leads to $1.5 billion in losses for the state.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who brought Schiavone as her guest to the 2023 State of the Union address, echoed those concerns.
According to DeLauro, 40% of New Haven families do not have access to high-quality childcare for their infants and toddlers.
“You think of other industries that were collapsing during the pandemic, and we were there in a heartbeat,” DeLauro said. “And child care is an industry. Without it, our economy does not thrive, it does not succeed."
DeLauro secured over a million dollars in federal funding to support the construction.
“I'm so confident that this is going to be such a valuable resource for families who are looking to give their children the best education that they can find,” DeLauro said.
The first 32 infants and toddlers are expected to be welcomed to the Flint Street campus this fall.
By 2027, Friends Center For Children is expected to have more than 260 students and 99 staff members across its centers.
