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Read the press release here.

New $4M Day Care Center Opens: 'There Is Nothing Like This On The S. Side'

 New Life Covenant Church opened its child care facility to the Grand Crossing community Monday.
New Life Covenant Church opened its child care facility to the Grand Crossing community Monday.
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DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

GRAND CROSSING — Grand Crossing Kid Care opened Monday — and there is still time to enroll a child in its state-of-the-art facility.

The $4-million child care center at 7522 S. Greenwood Ave. is across the street from New Life Covenant's planned new church, in what was once a factory. It will also be redeveloped into a 40,000-square-foot early learning center.

On-site registration opened at 6:30 a.m. Monday and 157 parents had already signed up children, said Michelle Redd-Newell, the operator of Grand Crossing Kid Care. Classes began Monday.

The facility offers features that are unique to the area, Redd-Newell said.

There is a dance studio, movie theater room, library/tech corner and more. Students will learn languages like Spanish and Mandarin. That curriculum will be included so it won't cost extra. There will even be baby yoga.

 Grand Crossing Kid Care opened Monday — and there is still time to enroll a child in its state-of-the-art facility.
Grand Crossing Kid Care opened Monday — and there is still time to enroll a child in its state-of-the-art facility.
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Grand Crossing Kid Care

"This is a state-of-the-art facility. There is nothing like this on the South Side of Chicago," Redd-Newell said. "We really wanted to expose our children to things that they would not customarily be exposed to. Where can you go in the inner city of Chicago, where you primarily have African-American students and you’re learning Mandarin?"

She said the infant rooms are already at capacity. The facility will hold between 363-400 infants and children.

Jasmin Williams of Chatham brought her 15-month-old son Monday. She had been looking for a place for him for almost a year, she said.

"I’m very excited," she said. "As a single parent I work a lot of hours.  It’s really hard to find something in the community that’s geared towards children and is crafted around what is best for them."

When she dropped him off Monday, she said she was surprised by how quickly he adjusted. He's usually shy, she said, but he was ready to be on his own after only 10 minutes.

"Everything, the books, the reading corner, it feels like home, it resembles his home, his play area, so that’s nice," Williams said.

Online registration is closed, but parents can register on site from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Click here for more information.

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