State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-10) announced that he has secured $2 million in state grant funds from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program to help rebuild Children’s Village, a daycare facility located on the Doylestown Hospital campus. Children’s Village was damaged beyond repair on Aug. 4, 2020, when an EF2 tornado touched down in Doylestown.
“I want to thank Gov. Wolf for agreeing to my request to dedicate RACP funds to rebuild an important part of the Doylestown Hospital campus that was devastated when a violent tornado struck in the middle of the day with the center full of children and staff,” said Santarsiero. “We were so fortunate there were no serious injuries to the children or staff of the center thanks to the heroism of everyone who helped evacuate the building. The project to rebuild the center will serve to strengthen both the Doylestown Hospital campus and our community.”
The project will construct a new multi-use facility for the Children’s Village Child Care Center at the site of the old center. At approximately 42,000 square feet, there will be rooms for infants through kindergarteners, multipurpose area, playground and outdoor learning space, and a secure entrance to the center.
“The sooner the children are exposed to early learning and education, the brighter the potential for their future outcomes,” said Santarsiero. “The services provided at Children’s Village extend far beyond the Doylestown Hospital campus, benefiting children of hospital employees and our broader Doylestown families.”
“Doylestown Health is honored to be awarded $2 million from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program,” said Jim Brexler, president and CEO, Doylestown Health. “This significant funding will allow us to rebuild Children’s Village and renew our commitment to serving the families of our community, as we have since our founding by the Village Improvement Association of Doylestown. We would like to thank Sen. Santarsiero and the governor’s office for their support of this important capital initiative, and for empowering Doylestown Health to rebuild our early childhood education center to serve the children of this community.”
A total of $54.5 million was approved to support 16 community, economic development and revitalization projects throughout Pennsylvania.
“I am pleased to announce these projects will receive the state funding they need to improve or create new community projects and facilities that add to the quality of life for residents in these communities,” said Gov. Tom Wolf.
RACP is a commonwealth grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects. RACP projects have a regional or multi-jurisdictional impact and generate substantial increases or maintain current levels of employment, tax revenues or other measures of economic activity. RACP projects are state-funded projects that cannot obtain primary funding under other state programs.
