Neighborhood Nonprofit Spotlight: McNeilly Center for Children

Patch talks to McNeilly Center for Children about the important work it does in the Nashville area to give children in need a stronger start in school and in life, and help families reach their full potential.

Patch: Tell Patch a little bit about your organization!

McNeilly Center: McNeilly Center for Children was founded in 1916 when Reverend J.T. Coleman established a Presbyterian Sunday School and Mission and named it for his good friend, James McNeilly. The mission quickly discovered that quality child care was an emergent need for neighborhood families and on September 23, 1918, McNeilly Day Home opened as a community based program and began caring for nearly 100 children each day.

Over time the McNeilly Day Home evolved into McNeilly Center for Children. McNeilly’s long history includes several building and program expansions tto meet the increasing child care needs of the community. Today, McNeilly Center for Children is one of Middle Tennessee’s largest providers of high quality early care and education for low-income families. We serve almost 300 children in two East Nashville locations. McNeilly Center for Children is a nonprofit, (registered 501c 3) child care center licensed by the State of Tennessee having earned the highest possible 3 STAR rating from the Department of Human Services and national accreditation from NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children).

McNeilly Center for Children provides stimulating, age appropriate environments in which children can reach their full potential in all areas of development. McNeilly accepts TN DHS childcare certificates through Families First, and offers a sliding scale fee structure based on income in order to remain affordable and accessible for working poor and impoverished families.

Patch: How does your organization help to strengthen the local community?

McNeilly Center: McNeilly Center for Children is committed to nurturing the potential of families and communities. We provide affordable, high quality early care and education for almost 300 low-income and at-risk children each year because we know that the first five years of a child’s life are immensely important for getting kids ready for school, and providing them with the tools they need to succeed as productive and upstanding citizens.

Children who do not attend a quality child care program, like McNeilly, are twice as likely to need special education services when they enter school, are 30% more likely not to go to college, and 70% more likely to commit violent crimes, to become a teen parent, to drop-out of school, to never hold a job, and to spend their life in poverty. Our programs give children in need a stronger start in school and in life, and help families reach their full potential.

Patch: What is the biggest struggle your organization faces?

McNeilly Center: The current funding landscape for quality early care and education is dismal. Working poor families are facing even more cuts in childcare assistance, and donations from individuals, foundations and corporations are just not filling the significant gap in what is received and what is needed to continue to provide quality care for children in need. Low-income parents of young children are being forced to choose between subpar care situations or no longer working or going to school. McNeilly serves some of the most vulnerable children and families in our community, and they need significant support in order to become the successful, contributing members of society that we know they can be.

Patch: What do you hope for the future of your nonprofit?

McNeilly Center: At McNeilly, we believe that everyone deserves access to quality education, and, in turn, everyone benefits from the opportunities for growth provided to these children by education. We give children the tools to succeed, not only when they are at the McNeilly Center, but also at home, through parental education and allowing parents time to work or go to school. The skills children learn at McNeilly Center for Children have lasting effects throughout their life. Achievement gaps develop well before children enter Kindergarten. Once the initial gap is created in years 0-5, it doesn’t go away. Early life development is critical to success later in life.

This is why we, at McNeilly Center, serve low-income families; who cannot otherwise afford safe, quality early education. The gap starts early and is hard and expensive to alleviate later in life. We’re helping to alleviate the problem, one child at a time. We turn the negative ripple effect that often results from poverty into a positive ripple effect, starting with education of the child in McNeilly programs. It is my hope, that the community will rally around the youngest and most vulnerable children in our community to give even more children in need in Middle Tennessee a chance for a stronger start.

Image via McNeilly Children's Center