At the end of the summer, CentroNía Martha Gudelsky Child Development Center will open at the old Silver Spring Library in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The library operated for nearly 60 years, but will now provide early learning opportunities to nearly 130 children up to age 5. CentroNía’s President and CEO Myrna Peralta said this has been nearly 10 years in the making.
“There was a lot of interest in that space,” Peralta said. “I appreciate the county saying ‘let’s keep it for a purpose that serves the community.’ And the Gudelsky Family Foundation made that possible through their gift of financial support to renovate the property.”
Peralta said what makes CentroNía unique is that it is bilingual, multicultural and focuses on low-income, immigrant families. Around 75-80% of families at the center will be working, low-income families, with the other 20% paying full tuition.
To continue to provide these services, the center works with the Maryland State Department of Education and the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services. But that doesn’t cover everything, so fundraising it critical.
“I want to stress the need for quality child care, post pandemic. The number of child care centers that have either closed or not reopened, has really even exacerbated the demand side,” Peralta said.
In the D.C. region, she said for every 10 families that request child care, there may be two or three slots available.
“The demand has always outstripped the availability of slots and that’s been exacerbated by the pandemic,” she said.
CentroNía wanted to expand at the old Silver Spring library mainly because of its location and familiarity with the community. The new location will feature a commercial kitchen, a community center and a training space for teachers. Currently, CentroNía has five other locations and is also opening an infant toddler center in Northeast D.C.
Jessica Hernandez is from White Oak and her 2-year-old son has been attending the Takoma Park location since last year.
“He loves it here,” Hernandez said. “Once he sees that we’re turning into the school, he started saying ‘school mommy, school Miss. Anna, Miss. Anna.’ And so it’s just a wonderful feeling to know that they’re taking wonderful care of him and he reflects it with his happiness when we arrived to school.”
Henandez said what really makes CentroNía special is the immersion program, which allows her son to continue to speak and learn Spanish at school. Fabiola Lopez’s 4-year-old daughter attends the Takoma Park location as well and lives in Silver Spring. Lopez expressed excitement for the new location.
“It’s a great opportunity for other parents to learn and understand their child’s development, but also learn about the resources that the center gives out to the people that are already in the center,” Lopez said.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
