ITHACA, N.Y. — Local non-profit childcare provider Coddington Road Community Center is set to double its student capacity next year after receiving a state grant worth some $4.2 million. The funds will offset construction costs for the community center’s long planned expansion project.
New York State Assemblymember Anna Kelles was on hand Wednesday to formally announce the funding, which had originally been finalized last September.
Kelles framed the funding as an investment in workforce and economic development.
“In Tompkins County, we have a disproportionate number of […] college or higher educated women who have chosen [to leave the workforce.] And of course, the number one reason was the cost of childcare,” Kelles said.
Nearly all of Tompkins County is considered a “child care desert” according to data compiled in 2020 by the Center for American Progress. The phrase refers to communities where demand for childcare outweighs supply.
The state grant, along with smaller grants from the New York State Regional Economic Development Council and the Tompkins Community Recovery Fund, are expected to completely cover construction costs for the project.
Coddington Road Community Center Executive Director Heather Mount said the new wing will have room for up to 46 additional children — roughly doubling its current daycare capacity. But Mount said even with the jump in capacity, there will still be unmet childcare needs.
“Our wait list has about 340 [children],” Mount said. “So even with this full expansion online, we would barely put a dent in our waitlist. But every little bit counts.”
Mount said some parents will place their children on the waiting list at the community center before the child is even born. The current wait list has more than doubled in less than a year.
The new wing, which more than doubles the community center’s existing facilities, will include three new classrooms, a community room that could also be used as a fourth classroom, a gymnasium and a kitchen.
“We really wanted to be able to not only expand the capacity of childcare, but also to be able to return to our community center the use of [a community] room, and have space available for recreational purposes,” Mount said.
Architectural planning for the project originally began in 2019, architect Kelly Maher said, but pandemic-related delays meant that actual construction did not begin until this spring. Maher estimates the building will be completed early next year.
“We tried to make all the classrooms equal size so that there’s flexibility for them going forward,” Maher said. “Today, you might need more preschool rooms, but in two years, you might need more infant rooms.”
Maher also has two children who have been enrolled in childcare programs at the community center since infancy.
“My kids, their best friends, are the ones who they started here at Coddington with,” Maher said. “They stay in touch. And when it comes to the summer, once they aged out of the daycare, they came for after school [programs] or for summer camp.”