With its involvement in the Newport News Early Childhood Development Center, Virginia Peninsula Community College continues efforts to reach out to residents in the city’s southeast section.
The project, a collaboration among the College, the Peake Childhood Center and the City of Newport News, was more than two years in the making. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Jan. 16. at the facility at 1500 Jefferson Ave.
“This moment marks an incredible significant step forward in addressing the critical shortage of early childhood educators and caregivers, something that we all know is a challenge that directly impacts the economic vitality of our regional workforce,” said VPCC President Dr. Towuanna Porter Brannon.
The College’s Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Development will be housed in the building, offering all program courses as well as general education classes. VPCC students will be able to have hands-on experience working with the children enrolled in Peake’s programs.
“The center’s proximity to Peake, as you have heard, will allow our students to gain the hands-on professional experiences right here, providing seamless integration of learning and practice,” Brannon said. “What we celebrate today is more than just a building. This is the personification of opportunity and hope.”
The Peake Center will handle the day-to-day operations and is for children six weeks old through five years and features preschool programs. It can accommodate 200 children.
“The foundation of this partnership was laid in early 2021,” Dr. Jennifer Parish, executive director of the Peake Center, said at the event: “(It) is unlike any other in the early childhood care and education space.”
John R. Eley III, a councilman for the City of Newport News, said the partnership with VPCC makes the initiative even more impactful.
“When young people walk through these doors and see VPCC students engaged in higher education, they are witnessing a powerful visual to let them know what is possible in life,” he said. “Sometimes all it takes to ignite ambition is to see someone who looks like you, someone who comes from where you come from, and someone who has also succeeded.”
He said believing can inspire achievement.
“This center, with its learning lab and connection to higher education, is planting a seed of the possibility in the minds of our young children,” Eley said.
Dr. Brannon recalled a conversation she had a few years ago with Alan Archer, a Newport News city manager, shortly after he returned from a trip to San Antonio. He told her that city is an ideal model for early childhood education.
“I am confident that industry professionals will look to Newport News as the new ideal archetype for early childhood education and talent development,” Dr. Brannon said. “Together, we are truly making a difference.”
VPCC’s space in the center consists of two early childhood education classrooms, which can be turned into one large classroom, a student workroom, two offices and a space shared with the Peake Center. The general education classes offered there are open to students in other programs as well, not just Early Childhood Development.
“We are excited,” Teresa Frazier, head of VPCC’s Early Childhood Education program, said of the center finally opening. “The students are happy.”
For more information on the College, visit www.vpcc.edu.