A new location for one of New Haven’s child care centers is open for business at the old CINE-4 movie theater on Flint Street.
Friends Center for Children, which cares for hundreds of kids at multiple locations across New Haven, will have space for 80 infants and toddlers at the old theater when it’s finished — right now, there’s room for 32.
Executive director Allyx Schiavone, an advocate for affordable early childhood education and better working conditions for teachers, said repurposing the existing space is an unconventional way to address the city's lack of early childhood education spots.
“Since 2000, we have been building a model for what child care could be,” Schiavone said. “We do this work in a broken, racist, and sexist system that is fiscally designed for failure. The true cost of providing care is higher than what most parents can afford. That math obviously leaves us in a bind. We want to provide high-quality care, and we want care to be affordable for families, and we want to pay our educators a professional wage, but we can't go out of business to accomplish those goals.”
Early Childhood Education Commissioner Beth Bye visited the center on Friday and praised its innovation.
“I remember hearing from Allyx a couple of years ago that she was going to convert a former movie theater into a child care center, and thinking, ‘Wow,’ because our governor is always asking me about, ‘how can we repurpose this space?’”
Schiavone and her business model have attracted national attention. Friends Center for Children provides free housing for eight educators and their families, some through land and building donations, and some through a partnership with Yale University’s architecture program.
According to Schiavone, the average family spends up to 20% of their income on child care. Yet, the average full-time childcare worker in the state makes less than $30,000.
“To stabilize the child care sector, we envision three infrastructure pathways,” Schiavone said. “One, we have to secure home-based childcare providers through homeownership. Second, we have to invest in the capital infrastructure of center-based care providers like Friends Center. And three, we have to support the Early Learning workforce through free teacher housing.”
Phase two of the center’s opening will include the remaining 48 slots, space for adult learning and teacher learning, and a children’s library. Schiavone said phase three isn’t planned yet—it will depend on what the community needs.
When that project is complete, the center will also open a location in the new ConnCAT Place on Dixwell.
And, yes, the movie theater-turned-child-care-center still has its original popcorn maker.