We Need Your Voice!

UPDATE:

A group of parents recently toured the Miller Street location, the site Aspire intends to move our children's Early Intervention program to. We met with Susan Coakley, Aspire's CEO, and the Step 1 directors. We left with serious concerns.

While no work has been completed yet, the plan is to convert two conference rooms into a playgroup space, one as a classroom, the other as the OT/"indoor" playgroup room. A small office space would also be converted into a meeting room where parents could meet with coordinators or service providers on-site. Here is what we found, and why it matters:

• The playgroup space is significantly smaller than a classroom at the Mollie Hirshberg Learning Center, where our children currently receive playgroup services.
• There is smoking permitted in the parking lot/outside.
• There is no toddler-specific bathroom. The plan is a shared adult bathroom with a toddler seat attachment added.
• The playgroup would share a floor and a lobby with an adult mental health crisis center, with no separation or divide.
• The smaller space would amplify sound, a real concern for babies and toddlers with sensory/sound sensitivities.
• There is no outdoor play space.
• The indoor play space is significantly smaller than what our children have now.

These are not minor details. They are real safety, sensory, and developmental concerns for some of the youngest children in our community, many of whom are already navigating delays or disabilities that make the right environment especially important.

Read the full story here:
Parents urge delay of early intervention move to smaller Quincy space

We have called and emailed Mayor Koch directly and have not yet received a response.

Some of us have already spoken at Quincy's public forum, and we will keep showing up.

Thank you to everyone who has stood with us so far! Thank you to the community in Quincy that is standing behind us! Our babies deserve a space built with them in mind, not a repuposed office space!

This is the moment we need more signatures and more voices. If you haven't signed yet, please do so now and share this with anyone who cares about early intervention.