Child-care hubs opening around Hartford as resource for poor, working families struggling with remote, hybrid learning

Eight child-care hubs are opening around Hartford this month to provide safe, in-person learning environments for young students while their schools are closed and their parents or guardians are at work.

The Learning Hubs, operated by some of the city’s largest community organizations, will serve Hartford children in kindergarten through third grade who are enrolled in hybrid or remote learning, have a working parent or caregiver, and come from a low-to-moderate income family.

A family of four can make up to $41,000 per year to be eligible, according to the city.

With space for just about 330 students, the initiative must target the families with the greatest need, Mayor Luke Bronin said Thursday at a news conference about the partnership between the city, Hartford Public Schools and the non-profit organizations running the hubs.

These non-profits include the Community Renewal Team, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford, the YWCA Hartford Region, YMCA of Greater Hartford and Catholic Charities. The hubs will be spread throughout the city geographically, a necessity as there is no transportation being provided to the sites.

At CRT’s Windsor Street building, about 100 students will work out of the eight classrooms that previously held the organization’s preschool program until the summer of 2019. Those spaces have been freshened up for their next life as Learning Hub classrooms, where — like at all the hubs around the city — classroom monitors will supervise students as they do their work.

Five families have already signed up with CRT, and the organization has given out a dozen other applications, said Leslie Giordano, director of early care and education.

“The families who have signed up so far, they have had either another parent taking time off from work or a grandma helping out, the aunt helping out, older siblings,” Giordano said. “We’re very happy to alleviate the stress working families are going through.”

In some cases, families have had to turn to relatives outside their own household for help, increasing their risk of spreading or contracting the coronavirus. But mainly, Giordano said, parents and caregivers have expressed concerns that their children are falling behind in school as a result of hybrid and remote learning.

At one of the hubs, “I think they will get the opportunity either to continue on track or just get that consistent schedule you get in school,” she said.

Families do not need to be connected to any of the organizations to apply for space in the hubs, she added.

The free program will also provide breakfast, lunch and snacks, as well as breaks for students to safely stretch and play. All the hubs will enforce mask wearing and social distancing and follow guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19, the city said.

The $1.5 million program is being funded by Community Development Block Grants and $500,000 from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

The hubs are expected to open by the end of January,

To learn more about signing up, residents can visit HartfordCT.gov/learninghubs or call the Department of Families, Children, Youth, and Recreation at 860-757-9595 during business hours.

Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.

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