GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — With the Boston Square Together project aiming to revitalize the Boston Square Neighborhood in southeast Grand Rapids underway, work on the area's new community hub nears closer to completion.
On Tuesday, members of the media, community groups, and Representative Hillary Scholten were given a tour of the soon-to-be Boston Square Early Childhood Center.
Expected to open in the fall of 2025, the early childhood center will be able to serve around 77 children, offering early education for infants and children up to five-years-old.
'We aim to maintain a balanced program enrollment that prioritizes all children who live in the Boston Square Neighborhood, both American born residents and refugee children," said Meg Derrer, executive director for the the Refugee Education Center, which is the chosen provider for the BSQ-ECC.
Around half of the children currently being served by the Refugee Education Center live in the Boston Square Neighborhood.
The decision to include an early childhood center in the new HUB 07 building comes after a 2018 report done by Boston Square Together and IFF showed a need for access to affordable early childhood education in the area.
"This center has been co-created with the Boston Square Neighbors. They were the ones who said what they want in the center, and they said that they prioritized health care and child care," said Derrer. "The neighbors have been very clear about what they want and need in this under-invested area, and so it's a really important addition to the Boston Square neighborhood."
With the official name to be decided on by neighbors, Anissa Eddie, the project manager for the BSQ-ECC says the facility is being designed with children as the priority, with restroom access directly inside rooms, and each room also having access to outdoor play areas.
"When you think about the colors, when you think about the acoustics, the finishes, the level that things are, this is really about the children and the adults are more going to be the ones that are adapting to use the space," said Eddie.
Eddie also adds that early childhood education needs to be directed to each child as a whole, including their cultural identities, with the language services meant to be catered for the children enrolled.
"It's really going to be based on what we see, as far as the children's needs and making sure that we're matching that with the staff that are here, which in so many ways will be easy to do because of the focus on local hiring," said Eddie. "Also because of the amazing partnerships that already exist with the refugee community who want to be a part of this."
The Corewell Center for Health and Wellness will also be featured in the HUB 07 and is expected to open in the winter of 2025.
Families interested in signing up for more information can click here.
