🔒Bangor child care center opens in phases to meet growing need

The first phase of a 16-classroom early childhood and preschool education facility in Greater Bangor — designed to serve infants, toddlers and preschoolers — opened last week as part of a plan to meet growing demand.

When fully open, the Penquis Bright Beginnings Child Development Center will have capacity for more than 200 children ages 6 weeks to 5 years.

“We’ve been thinking about doing this for a number of years,” Mary Kay Hallett, the center’s Head Start director, told Mainebiz. “It’s finally come to fruition.”

Six classrooms opened last week. The plan is to open the next two sets of classrooms during the second week of August and in late August.

The facility, at 31 Hillside Ave., consolidates three early childhood education sites that provide Early Head Start, Head Start and child care services in Bangor: the Davis Road Child Development Center at 262 Harlow St., the Eastern Maine Community College Child Development Center at 354 Hogan Road and Venture Way Child Development Center at 120 Venture Way.

Penquis also provides child care and preschool facilities in Brewer, Dexter, Dover, East Millinocket, Old Town and Rockland.

The project team included TAC Architectural Group Inc. in Bangor and Westbrook general contractor Benchmark Construction.

The project cost was originally estimated at $9.7 million, coming mainly from federal, state and city agencies but also in part from a capital campaign. The final cost was not available.

Incorporated in 1967, Penquis is one of nearly 1,100 U.S. community action agencies focused on addressing poverty through programs supporting children, housing, transportation and health.

Benefits of consolidation

Current Penquis child care enrollment for Greater Bangor is 70 Head Start and 54 Early Head Start children, for a total of 124. The new facility has capacity for more than 200 children. Families either receive child care subsidies or pay for placements out-of-pocket.

The consolidation aims to optimize federal funding, streamline operations and offer families quality and affordable child care and education, according to Penquis.

In addition to placements for subsidized Head Start and Early Head Start services, the new facility will reserve a minimum of 42 additional placements for private pay.

Benefits of consolidation are expected to include improved accessibility through its location near I-95 and off Broadway, with direct access to public transportation and parking for drop-off and pick-up.

It’s expected there will be cost savings as a result of owning the facility, rather than renting the other sites, which is expected to allow more federal and state Early Head Start funding to be used for programming.

Other advantages are expected to include more efficient and increased classroom staffing, better accessibility to specialists like educational directors, nutrition managers, mental health providers and nurses, and better staff retention.

In addition to the classrooms, the layout includes a commercial kitchen, conference rooms, and a mix of new and existing furnishings and décor, Hallett said.

The staff numbers over 50, plus two cooks.

“We’re in the best spot we’ve ever been for staffing,” Hallett said. “Right now we’re fully staffed.”

The need for high-quality child care is growing for all ages, she said.

“It’s difficult for families to put their children in someone else’s care,” she said. “So it needs to be somewhere they feel comfortable doing it.”