Child Development Center Finds a Permanent Home Thanks to Community and Partners
After two years’ operating in temporary locations, Tanaina Child Development Center now has a permanent home, thanks to the joint effort of National Cooperative Bank (NCB), Alaska Regional Hospital, and the Rasmuson Foundation.
In May 2015, the non-profit organization dedicated to providing an early childcare program for 18-month to 5-year old children in the Anchorage community received bleak news. Tanaina’s landlord, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) needed their leased spaced for University related business. In response, Tanaina was forced to relocate to a temporary relocation and began a frantic search for a permanent home.
Two years later, and thanks to a collaborative effort and community support, Tanaina opened its doors at its new home in Anchorage on the campus of the Alaska Regional Hospital.
Alaska Regional Hospital provided the new space as in-kind gift to Tanaina. NCB provided Tanaina with a $620,000 loan to fund the leasehold improvements needed to transform the donated office space into a licensed child development center and the Rasmuson Foundation, a long standing family trust benefitting the residents of Alaska provided a $250,000 direct grant and an unlimited liquidity support agreement to Tanaina.
“This is an example of the power of people coming together with their hearts and their minds and their passion for something beautiful,” says Julie Taylor, CEO of Alaska Regional Hospital.
Tanaina’s new childcare facility includes 9,000 square feet of indoor space and 38,000 square feet to be used for a playground. The new location also provided the development center the opportunity to increase enrollment and thus greater serve the Anchorage community. With the expansion, the child care facility added eleven new staff members and can serve more children in the Anchorage community.
“The opportunity to essentially double the number of kids served with room to grow, and a permanent home, the community can’t ask for anything more,” says Chris Perez, Senior Programs Officer at the Rasmuson Foundation.
With collaboration from NCB, the Alaska Regional Hospital, and the Rasmuson Foundation, Tanaina found a new home for its childcare facility and is back to carrying out its mission- serving families in the Anchorage community.
“Tanaina Child Development Center isn’t just a place or a business; it’s a community and a family. It’s with the help of this community, that we have this beautiful home,” says Amanda Smodey, Executive Director of Tanaina.
