Family Centers Opens New Playground at Arch Street Preschool
On Friday, Dec. 9, Family Centers held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of its newly constructed playground at its 40 Arch Street Preschool in Greenwich.
The state-of-the-art playground was funded by grants from the Town of Greenwich, First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich and the Leon Lowenstein Foundation. Developed by TO Design of New Brittan, the playground features an open layout and such features as an Enchanted Forrest, a large bird nest, permanent musical instruments and a small amphitheater.
Because the preschool's original playground was more than 20 years old, many of its structures needed to be replaced. The playground also needed to be renovated to comply with newly-implemented federal playground safety guidelines.
Family Centers was able to begin work in late August after receiving an initial grant of more than $166,000 from the Greenwich Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). Additional grants of $76,500 from First Presbyterian Church and $25,000 from the Leon Lowenstein Foundation provided the necessary funds to complete the project.
The playground is named in memory of Edna Anderson, a long-time Town of Greenwich employee and member of First Presbyterian Church. Anderson worked in Town Hall for nearly 40 years. Starting as a cashier in 1943, Anderson was named Assistant Town Clerk in 1967 - a position she held until her retirement in 1980. She then devoted another 26 years of her life to charitable support of a number of Town nonprofit services until her death in 2006 at the age of 93.
Family Centers' Arch Street Preschool is one of its three Early Care and Education programs in Greenwich. All three preschools utilize the Creative Curriculum in conjunction with the State of Connecticut Preschool Assessment Framework. In doing so, staff is able to plan developmentally appropriate, student-driven lessons based on each child's individual strengths and goals. Family Centers also operated a Head Start and School Readiness preschool program at Armstrong Court in Greenwich.
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