Children's Center in line for potential remodel

The Orfalea Foundation has been working with the SBCC Foundation staff to attain necessary funding to remodel the Kinko's Early Learning Center.

If funds work out, the center remodel could be scheduled to begin in June 2009.

Built in 1972, the center currently serves 65 infants and pre-schoolers from 60 families, 80 percent of whom are City College students. The center is also a student teaching site for the City College's Early Childhood Education Department.

The childcare facility has not been significantly renovated since it was built, and although it is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the center's facilities are no longer compliant with its accreditation.

Originally a residential home, the floor plan, kitchen, and bathroom are unsatisfactory for a childcare facility.

For example, many of the classrooms can only access main internal corridors through other classrooms, disrupting other classes. The association also requires the kitchen be updated to commercial-quality, requiring equipment that keeps food warm along with sufficient sinks for cooking and cleaning. Bathrooms must provide touch-free sinks, toilets, and faucets for proper sanitation.

Additionally, the center is deficient in other necessities such as designated diaper stations as well as quiet, divided sleeping areas for infants, and enough office space to accommodate the nine teachers and nine interns currently employed. Further repairs are needed for some termite damage to a section of the outside play area as well as a leaking roof.

According to its Web site, The Orfalea Foundation is a non-profit organization that "supports high quality, preventative, and experiential community programs which directly impact children, youth, and underprivileged families" in the Central Coast region.

City College officials were reluctant to discuss the proposed remodel, as the project relies completely on external funding, and little has been set in stone.

According to CEO of the Foundation for SBCC, Barbara Ben-Horin, "We [the Foundation and the College] are just in the process of working with a potential funding source to secure the funds for the work that needs to be done.

College planners and the center director are working closely with an architect to provide the potential donor with drawings."