MCS Gets Half Million Dollar State Grant For Addition, Renovation Project At Depot Road Center

CHATHAM – A $500,000 state grant has been awarded to Monomoy Community Services to support the construction of an addition and renovations to the agency’s Depot Road youth and family center.

 Ground was broken in September on the project, which will add 1,000 square feet of dedicated space for the Chatham Children’s Fund and replace windows and floors, upgrade heating and cooling systems, add solar panels and make other improvements to classroom space at the agency’s 120-year-old building. The facility is currently vacant; its day care program was moved to an empty classroom at the Chatham Elementary School across the street, St. Christopher’s Church is provided space for administration, and the Children’s Fund holiday program is being run out of the basement at Our Lady of Grace Church in South Chatham, according to Monomoy Community Services (MCS) Executive Director Theresa Malone.

 “That’s up and running already,” she said of the annual holiday program run by the Children’s Fund, which provides winter coats and other clothing as well as Christmas gifts for local children. Package deliveries for the agency are being received at the fire station just down the road.

 “Everyone is pitching in,” Malone said. “It feels really good.”

 About three-quarters of the estimated $1.5 million cost of the project is now funded, Malone said. A building drive will be held some time after the holidays to raise the remaining amount, she said.

 MCS applied for the grant from the Department of Early Education and Care two years ago, but it was not funded. Malone said MCS worked with the state agency to resubmit the application for the grant, which is specifically designed to assist child care and after school program facilities.

 “It was tailor made for us,” she noted.

 The MCS grant is part of $14.1 million in capital funds being distributed to 28 organizations across the state, according to a press release from the Healey-Driscoll administration. The program is administered by the Department of Early Education and Care in partnership with the Children’s Investment Fund, an affiliate of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation. The funding is available through the administration's fiscal 2024 to 2028 Capital Investment Plan Early Education and Out-of-School Time Fund and from the Early Education and Care Provider Capital Grant funding delivered in the fiscal 2024 state budget. The Healey-Driscoll administration, through their Capital Investment Plan, has more than doubled the EEOST grants, from $4 million a year to $11.4 million, according to the press release.

 The MCS project is the only one on the Cape approved in this funding round.

 “Massachusetts remains focused on making early education and care more affordable, accessible and equitable across the state,” Governor Maura Healey said in a statement. “Providing capital funding to programs is an essential part of that work, helping families struggling with the high cost of living make ends meet and ensuring their kids can get a high-quality education in modernized facilities. That’s why we increased funding for this program in our capital plan, and it is great to see that funding at work to build more child care programs and expand capacity.”

 The grant goes a long way to meet the costs of the project, said Malone. Several other small grants are pending, but the upcoming building drive is expected to provide the final piece of the funding puzzle.

 The work is expected to be completed in June, so the agency should be able to run its summer programs as usual, she said.

 The one regret about the project? Removal of a large tree was necessary to make space for the new addition, Malone said. A landscaping plan calls for its replacement.

 “It’s going to be nice,” she said of the final product.