Rutland County Head Start’s Meadow Street location is boasting a little more color this week — and that won’t be the only change the organization sees this summer.
RCHS is a preschool child care program free to eligible families that operates on a school-year, school-day calendar and offers comprehensive family, health and social services.
A mural installed Saturday morning by renowned local artist Kathryn Wiegers at RCHS’s Meadow Street location is the latest addition in a series of projects that have been underway within the organization over the last several months.
Part of a broader initiative to revamp the organization’s Meadow Street and Hickory Street locations and program offerings, RCHS Program Director Donna Barrow said the mural depicting two children playing with butterflies and a hummingbird perfectly captures the experience RCHS hopes to provide.
“(The mural) reflects the overall quality of the program and our real focus on joyful, play-based learning,” Barrow said. “Our program is for low-income kids and with everything going on with the hotels and housing insecurity, sometimes these beautiful spaces to play in are hard to come by.”
Wiegers, who also will be creating a mural of children’s hands holding bubble wands and playing with bubbles inside the Meadow Street location, said the collaboration with RCHS has been a great experience.
“(The Head Start team) talked to me and told me what they were looking for. They wanted something colorful, bright and for children,” Wiegers said. “The design was meant to bring out the curiosity that kids seem to naturally have — that inquisitiveness in nature.”
Last spring, Barrow and her team announced several renovation projects were in the works at RCHS, including a new sensory wall, playground and gross motor room. Since then, Barrow said everything except for the playground has been finished, adding that garden beds have taken the playground’s place, while contractors are being sourced.
Possibly the most notable update since the spring are plans for a third location in the same Meadow Street complex that will serve as a literacy and family center, an art space and a multipurpose area.
“We’ve been really focused on making the environment beautiful, but we’re also engaging with experts around curriculum and supporting families,” Barrow said. “We hope by fall or late fall to have it set up. … We really want to do more (art) in this space. We’re also creating a larger library (that is) going to be a space for parent meetings and groups.”
Barrow said RCHS will be partnering with Rutland Mental Health to host specialized support groups in the space for families and children, including for mothers dealing with postpartum depression, as well as new parents, among others.
“These (new) spaces are going to allow us to do programming that will enhance the work our teachers and all the other staff at Head Start do by engaging the families and children in ways we were not able to before without that space. Being able to offer those types of programs will, ultimately, do a better job of preparing kids for their school experience — which is really the essence of what Head Start is,” said Dick Courcelle, CEO of Community Care Network, which oversees RCHS
RCHS’s plans to develop a year-round care program for infants and toddlers under age 3 also are in the works this summer. Barrow said she and her team are waiting to hear from the Office of Head Start as to whether their proposal for the program will be approved. She said she is confident it will be by fall.
For the time being, however, the organization is not yet accepting enrollments for the infant-toddler program.
If approved, Barrow said the Hickory Street location would feature one infant-toddler classroom and one preschool classroom; the Meadow Street location would feature two infant-toddler classrooms and two preschool classrooms.
With enrollments currently open for the fall, Barrow encouraged any interested families to reach out to (802)-775-8225 or by email at [email protected] to sign up or learn more about the program.
“The environment is becoming increasingly joyful. We already are a five-star rated Vermont quality program, but we’re really focusing on play-based learning, joyful experiences and just making it a beautiful space for children, families (and) for Head Start,” Barrow said.
sophia.buckley-clement
@rutlandherald.com