Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Uptown Day Care Reopens in Space a Third the Size of its Former Center

 Nasry Michelen Day Care Center served 86 students last year, a far cry from the 28 enrolled in March.
Nasry Michelen Day Care Center
View Full Caption

HAMILTON HEIGHTS — The city’s first Dominican-run day care center, which shut down last year after losing its funding, has reopened  — with less than a third of the children it previously served, the director said.

Dozens of families and elected officials celebrated the reopening of the Nasry Michelen Day Care Center on Thursday at 1727 Amsterdam Ave., a space that’s approximately two-thirds smaller than the previous site at 501 W. 145th St., director Nereida Cruz said.

The program closed in August, after the Administration for Children’s Services decided in May 2015 not to renew its funding and opted instead for a corporate day care provider.

However, thanks to an infusion of nearly $1 million from a local councilman, the program was able to prepare the space and secure licenses to operate with the Department of Health and other city agencies in March, Cruz said.

“We’re very happy to be back,” she said. “The space is small, but we’re looking for a bigger space and hoping to soon be at the same capacity as before.”

Cruz, who has been with working at the center for about 30 years, said the program only had room to enroll 28 kids in March — a far cry from the 86 it worked with prior to closing last year. The center works with children ages 2 through 4.

“We were in a pause,” Cruz said. “Our students, and even our staff, who have worked with us for years, were waiting since August to start the program with us again.”

Councilman Mark Levine secured $980,000 in city funding to help the program move to its new home, a few blocks away from the previous location. He said he will continue to help the day care expand “to serve up to 100 children beginning in the fall of 2016," according to a statement.

“This is an amazing, amazing child care center,” Levine said at the reopening. “[This program] has touched hundreds and hundreds of lives. That kind of work should be cherished.”

Last year, Levine said he wanted to do everything he could to help when the program was on the verge of shutting down.

Parents like Stephanie Batista thanked the councilman during the event and said she was thrilled to see the day care back up and running. Batista, who attended the program herself in the early 1990s, enrolled her 2-year-old daughter Sarayi there in March.

“We appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” Batista said, “and I’m so grateful that I’m now able to bring my child here.”

Gregorio Rivera enrolled his 7-year-old twins in the program last year, prior to the center closing, and said both girls were excited to be back.

“We’re all very happy,” he said. “We were paying extra for after-school and other types of child care.”

The day care's founder and executive director, Nasry Michelen, said the center filled up with kids as soon as the reopening was announced. She noted that the program now has a waiting list of 30 families, with the next goal being to find a bigger space. 

"That's what we are wishing for — a big building — so we can be same way we were," Michelen said.