HOLYOKE — The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke and the Greater Holyoke YMCA will both be receiving some critical funding from the state in support of renovations to improve the indoor and outdoor quality and accessibility of learning environment for children.
Announced by the Healey-Driscoll administration, a total of 20 organizations across the state will be awarded $8.5 million in capital funding to renovate early education and out-of-school time program facilities that serve primarily to low-income families. These funds will install clean energy systems, add safety improvements and improve accessibility for children and adults.
“Making early education and care more affordable and accessible is a top priority for our administration. Capital investments are an important part of that,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “These capital grants give our hardworking childcare programs the financial resources they need to provide modern, healthy and safe environments for our kids to learn and play. This funding also helps us make progress on our climate goals, which is essential for ensuring our kids have secure futures.”
As part of the administration’s whole-of-government approach to addressing climate change, and in collaboration with the Climate Office, projects were prioritized that focused on clean energy and decarbonization. Projects that included security enhancements to prevent and respond to potential threats, such as active shooters and installation of security cameras and access control systems, were also prioritized.
“I am excited to see how this $8.5 million investment in capital projects for our local early education and childcare programs will foster the kind of physical indoor and outdoor spaces our children deserve to learn and play in every day,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. “These funds improve programs’ energy efficiency, ventilation and water conservation, accessibility for families and educations, add new security measures, update outdoor play areas and so much more.”
The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke is on the receiving end of $421,000 of this funding and it will support security upgrades including installation of a keyless entry system, a new fence and parking lot gate system, as well as installation of metal rolling shutters on room windows and main hallways.
Boys & Girls Club President Eileen Cavanaugh said she appreciated the recognition by the state that there needs to be an investment in childcare programs, especially around capital improvements.
“We’re thrilled to be able to offer enhanced security measures and so what we’re going to be doing with the funding is improving our access system and making sure our space is safe for our youth and families,” Cavanaugh said. “Safety is our No. 1 priority here at the club, so we want to make sure we’re doing everything in our effort to make sure that we have both a safe space physically and emotionally.”
She explained a keyless entry system will be an improvement on the building’s security control on spaces kids have access too. Improved fencing around the organization will also further improvements to the space’s safety.
“It gives not only our parents a peace of mind that they are trusting us with their youth and it’s a safe space, but it also gives our staff peace of mind as well,” Cavanaugh said. “Unfortunately, in light of our situation and where we are nationally around tragedies, it just seems like this is really timely and I think it’s responsive unfortunately to where we are.”
Cavanaugh added there will also be improvements to the playground located across the street from the main club.
“The state is willing to continue to invest in our playground which is a much-used space to say the least, weather permitting. It is used every single day by hundreds of kids and so we’re going to be doing an improved playground surface so that we can try to minimize falls and injuries within our playground as much as possible,” Cavanaugh said.
She added the investment for the two Holyoke organizations through this funding was “unprecedented and really important” for the community.
The Greater Holyoke YMCA received $500,000 and will be using the funding to support purchasing indoor and exterior security cameras, as well as create egress from the preschool classrooms and a new entrance and exit for the after-school classroom and program spaces. The Greater Holyoke YMCA did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
