By Marc Glass, February 2019
Earlier this month, UMF announced it will acquire a larger location for its signature Sweatt-Winter Early Care and Education Center — just down the road a piece.
With a portion of the $8.5 million coming to UMF from the $49 million University Workforce Bond approved by Maine voters in November 2018, UMF will purchase and renovate 274 Front Street in Farmington, making the single-story 10,384-square-foot former call-center building Sweatt-Winter’s new home.
Among its many advantages, 274 Front Street features ample windows, an open-concept interior, up to 100 parking spaces, proximity to campus, and twice the square footage of Sweatt-Winter’s current location. (Photo by Marc Glass.)
On many levels, moving Sweatt-Winter to the former NotifyMD call center across from Roberts Learning Center is advantageous for the University. With more than double the square footage of its current location on the ground floor of Ricker Addition, the new site offers more instructional space for enrolled children and UMF’s early childhood education majors who use Sweatt-Winter as an integral theory-to-practice learning lab. The new site’s 3.18 acres also include up to 100 parking spaces, providing parents a better traffic flow for drop-offs and pickups, away from busy Main Street.
The University had been exploring various options for renovating Sweatt-Winter or building a new location for the early education center that has served the region’s young children and families for the past 30 years. All prospects would have required additional funding from grants and philanthropic contributions — as well as indeterminate time to raise the financial support. Purchasing and renovating the existing vacant building at 274 Front Street — featuring an amply-windowed, open-concept interior that’s ideal for teaching and observing small children, as well as more outdoor space for nature-based play and learning activities — addresses many needs driving the decision to expand Sweatt-Winter.
Perhaps best of all, acquiring and upgrading 274 Front Street will cost at least $575,000 less than estimates for building anew or renovating Sweatt-Winter’s current site. And with its good bones, Sweatt-Winter’s new home should be ready to serve children, their families, and UMF’s early childhood education majors by June 2020.
The new location will offer expanded instructional space for enrolled children and UMF’s early childhood education majors who use Sweatt-Winter as an integral theory-to-practice learning lab. (Photo by Bob Bailie.)
Katherine Yardley, acting provost at UMF and a professor of early childhood education, says that a “visioning process” for the new facility will soon commence so the University can build on the strengths that have merited Sweatt-Winter’s accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
In 274 Front Street, “we have a wonderful structure already in place,” says Yardley. “We look forward to continuing to provide high quality early care and education to young children, while enhancing and expanding observation and field experience opportunities for UMF students preparing to teach in Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education.”