Press Room

We are continuing to monitor local guidance and the overall public health situation to determine when and how we might be able to serve more children on-site. In the meantime, all children enrolled at Educare Springfield have access to our remote learning program and other enrichment opportunities.

Nikki Burnett, executive director of Educare Springfield, the nation’s 24th Educare early-education center, has been appointed to a number of national Educare-related boards, including the Educare Learning Network (ELN).

Belsito said his first assignment is to understand what makes Springfield Springfield, and it is ongoing. From there, his job is to pull people together — something the Davis Foundation has always been good at it — and, when possible, move the needle.

Editor’s note: This is part of The Republican’s One People, One House community dialogue series sharing perspectives on the issues of racism and policing: We are advised to stretch before jogging or running a race to warm up our muscles and increase flexibility. Without stretching there is weakness and inability to extend all the way. Some stretches are tight and painful, and a trainer will encourage us to continue to move into the discomfort and hold there. After holding the stretch for a few seconds (which ultimately feels like an eternity), the muscles have loosened, feel limber and are ready to conquer the track ahead. We are in times where humanity is running the race FOR its life. It is incumbent upon all of us to get in the starting block and commit to the finish line. Jeremy Heimans, in his TedTalk, “What New Power Looks Like,” tells us that we need “the deployment of mass participation and peer coordination to create change and shift outcomes.” I am experiencing an exponential increase in opportunities to have discussions about race, politics and history in my personal and professional life.  Read the full story at Masslive.com

Springfield celebrates Black History month 2/3/2020 -Springfield- Students from Springfield's Freedman Elementary School sing during the city's 34th Annual Black American Flag Raising ceremony at City Hall to celebrate Black History Month. Read the full story at Masslive.com

“I am a product of early education and care; and my daughter is a product of it as well,” Nikki Burnett told us recently. Burnett’s daughter is currently a student at Howard University. As for Burnett herself she has come full circle. Born and raised in Massachusetts, in Springfield’s Mason Square neighborhood, Burnett worked for over a decade as a senior administrator at the American Heart Association. Now she’s back in Mason Square working as the executive director of the new Educare Springfield center , which just opened this month and is already at full enrollment. Educare is an evidence-based national network of 25 early education programs with the sweeping goal of figuring out “the most effective and the most promising ways to work with each individual child and each individual family, and we do that with excitement and passion for the work,” according to Charlotte Brantley, the president and CEO of the Clayton Early Learning, Educare Denver. Read the full story www.eyeonearlyeducation.org

A shiny, brand-new $14 million state-of-the-art building now rises up from the ruins resulting from a tornado that ripped apart the area. Financed by a $9 million contribution from an anonymous donor, it is located in one of the poorest neighborhoods; the impressive structure stands out against the typical architecture surrounding it. What is this new mystery building, and what is it doing in Springfield? The answer is Educare. Read the full story www.scstudentmedia.com