On January 16th, dignitaries including senator Sheldon Whitehouse, congressmen James Langevin and David Cicilline, accompanied by newly elected governor Gina Raimondo and Providence mayor Jorge Elorza joined Children's Friend president and CEO David Caprio, and Vision 3 Architects for a ribbon cutting ceremony honoring another milestone with the grand opening of their new Head Start Center location in the Silver Lake community, at 550 Hartford Ave.
The new center is an early learning school servicing 90 children, and provides Head Start services that promote the well being and healthy development of Rhode Island's most vulnerable children by providing flexible, effective and culturally relevant services that support and strengthen families and communities.
Vision 3 Architects played a key role in providing early planning and design services that assisted Children's Friend in securing the preferred site location and advised on the project's construction expenditures. The project is an adaptive reuse of an existing 9,300 s/f vacant space located in a strip mall at 550 Hartford Ave. The building accommodates a new, 7,333 s/f daycare center. The remaining space will support a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program for Children's Friend. The daycare features new classrooms, a new 2,250 s/f playground and support spaces including a food prep area, administrative area, children's restrooms and a conference room. The WIC facility includes new nutritionist offices, a lactation counselor office suite, director's office, restrooms, and a small break area. Each facility shares an entrance, waiting and reception areas, and support spaces.