West End Neighborhood House opens an education center in Wilmington.
The new facility on 8th Street houses the Seeds of Jesus Daycare, workforce development programs and community events.
The property was a church and then home to a Head Start program for more than 20 years before it closed almost two years ago.
Seeds of Jesus CEO and founder Sarah Reyes said she and the West End team are excited to bring an early childhood school back to the community, especially for those with limited transportation options.
“We provide a state-funded program and subsidy with the state, so it's affordable care, quality care for all the community,” Reyes said. “It’s actually in a very good location where workers from the city, the community who live around can come without any major traffic issues.”
Childcare staff are certified with the state and will also include interns from Howard High School just a few blocks away. The interns will work toward certifications that can help them get jobs after high school.
Seeds of Jesus addresses what Reyes called a gap in bilingual services for Wilmington families. She said she’s looking forward to offering the only dual language program in the area.
Most of the daycare’s families report they are Hispanic but do not speak Spanish, and they want their kids to learn both English and Spanish. Other families don’t speak English at all, Reyes said.
“And when they take their kids to other centers, it's very hard for them to communicate with the staff,” Reyes explained. “So for them, it's also a privilege to have not only the education for their own kids, but they can actually get involved.”
Reyes added she previously held parenting and child development classes at libraries.
“We provide trainings for the parents to become a better parent and to understand more about child development,” Reyes said. “So that's something that I am very excited about because now the parents can stay in the building and attend the meetings, and it's very convenient for all of us.”
West End Director of Development Greg Munson said one of the goals for the new center is to open up space for the community.
“We have a lot of groups that will already come to West End Neighborhood House for various things,” Munson said. “So now this is just another opportunity, like Sarah said, to expand services to the community. And the key with West End Neighborhood House in the past 143 years is that it just keeps evolving to the changing needs of the community.”
West End will also host some of its Launcher Entrepreneurship program events and job training at the education center, as well as rent out the space for different events.
The education center held its grand opening Monday. Seeds of Jesus has been operating out of the facility since November and has 71 children under its wings with a capacity of 113. Reyes expects to serve more than 250 children in the next 10 years with a focus on working, low-income and multilingual families.
The program created 25 jobs in the community since its founding in 2006, with opportunities expanding alongside enrollment numbers. Reyes said some of her staff members have children who attend the school.
“That's the goal of West End – creating self sufficiency,” Munson said. “So there really is this partnership.”
The childcare is based in the new facility’s lower level, with its remodeled upper level holding a conference training room. West End’s Education and Employment Department is set to transition to the new space upstairs in early April.
Its entrepreneurship program will start using the space later this month for a training session before hosting classes and cohorts.
Parenting classes are set to begin in March with room for about 30 attendees.
