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"to nurture young children by providing affordable, quality preschool programs that develop the 'whole child' and foster school readiness"
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"My child's academic experiences and overall growth throughout the school year sets DHCDC at the top of preschools in Hampton Roads" - Kayden's Dad
Downtown Hampton Child Development Center was inspired by a comment that Hampton Mayor Ann Kilgore made to a women's group at First United Methodist in 1969. She said that one of the city's greatest needs was child care for children of low-income families in the community. Subsequently, a group of interested people, most of them from churches in the Downtown Hampton area, began meeting to organize a child care center.Our goals are met through partnerships with local police, by coordinating watch groups, and engaging residents and neighborhoods. Having this type of engagement, it is easy to understand why our area of town is one of the most desirable and inviting places to be in Hampton.
DHCDC opened its doors on April 19, 1971, for nine children in the basement of St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church. Soon, the center was serving 30 children between the ages of 3 and 5. By 1975, DHCDC had moved to the newly completed Old Hampton Community Center on Lincoln Street. In 1985, DHCDC hired Jaynelle Oehler as its Executive Director, and she began guiding the center toward its superior standards of quality.
In 1988, DHCDC became the first center on the Peninsula to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The program expanded again in 1995, when DHCDC partnered with Hampton City Schools to provide care and education for 4-year-olds through the Virginia Preschool Initiative. At that time, DHCDC began operating a location on the campus of the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind, and Multi-Disabled. By 2000, DHCDC was serving 210 children at its two locations. In 2004, DHCDC expanded to a third location on Battle Road near Thomas Nelson Community College. With the addition of that location, DHCDC become the only center on the Peninsula to offer a full-day, year-round inclusion program for preschoolers with special needs (such as Down syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy). DHCDC also began serving infant, as young as 6 weeks, at this new location.
The Battle Road location remained in operation until 2009, when the site was closed and the children moved to two temporary locations on Kecoughtan Road in Downtown Hampton, until a large, permanent new home could be found. That hope was realized in summer 2010, when DHCDC leased the Mary Peake Center, a recently closed Hampton City elementary school. With its large classrooms, spacious campus and convenient location near the interstate, the Mary Peake Center offered the perfect space for consolidating the temporary locations, as well as the location on the now-closed deaf school campus. Now settled comfortably into their new home at Mary Peake, the children celebrated Jaynelle Oehler's 25th anniversary in 2010, as well as DHCDC's 40th anniversary in 2011.
Another great milestone in the 2010-2011 school year was earning Hampton's first four-star rating for early learning centers, at both our Lincoln Street AND Mary Peake locations (reviewed independently), through the state's Virginia Star Quality Initiative/QRIS. In 2012, two great "eras" of DHCDC came to an end... on the same week! Our Lincoln Street location closed (its classrooms and staff merged into our Mary Peake location) on July 24 after 37 years in the same building, and Jaynelle Oehler retired from being Executive Director on July 27 after 27 years in the role. Gail Gammon, who had been our Administrative Director for many years, stepped up as Acting Executive Director. In July of 2014, DHCDC administration and Staff welcomed Heather Livingston as the Executive Director.
We believe the early years of learning are the most important. Our aim is to nurture and to develop the "whole child." We feel each child is special and unique. We provide opportunities for the emotional, social, physical and intellectual growth of the children using a developmentally appropriate curriculum.
We provide a positive learning experience in a safe, caring and fun environment. We are a "child centered" program where the child is given choices and is encouraged to think and do for himself/herself. Children learn best by "doing" and through play. Our children will be ready and able to succeed when they leave us. Learning is a journey, and it continues for a lifetime.
© Downtown Hampton Child Development Center. All rights reserved. This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
1306 Thomas Street | Hampton, VA 23669
757-825-6200 | info@dhcdc.org
Downtown Hampton Child Development Center