EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — East Millinocket resident Alyssa Falanka is a mother of two and says she relies on the Katahdin Higher Education Center's childcare program almost every day.
"To be able to come here and drop my daughter off daily Monday through Friday, 8-2, is amazing," Falanka said. "They treat her well and they're all licensed teachers, so they really work hard with her."
And with a $4 million expansion made possible by state and federal funding, staff at the Katahdin Higher Education Center are hoping to provide even more parents with a safe and educational place to take their kids.
"People are having babies, people are moving here that have children, so really providing a much-needed resource as part of the overall puzzle to make the community a better place," Eastern Maine Community College Executive Director of Rural Development Initiatives Debora Rountree said.
With the expansion, the center now boasts two additional classrooms and playgrounds which early childhood educators say will give them room to take in children as young as six weeks old.
"It sets them up to be successful socially, emotionally, developmentally in pre-K," Early Head Start Teacher Christi Fisk said.
According to Fisk, the expansion will also give students from surrounding high schools an opportunity to learn more about early childhood education through student teaching.
"To build the profession, to keep the business local, to keep the education local, to have students from the area to expand the program," Fisk explained.
While she's excited about the impact it will have on her community, Rountree said she's most looking forward to the potential of attracting more people and businesses to the region.
"We have a great hospital here, we have good schools here, and having the younger early childhood education, it makes this community much stronger," Rountree said.
Staff at Katahdin Higher Education say they're also hoping to add a forested trail walk for the kids that will educate them about local nature and Indigenous peoples who call the land home.