Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Contact: Mayor's Office of Communications 415-554-6131

State-of-the-art center to serve 70 infants, toddlers and preschoolers  

Acting Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Malia Cohen, community leaders and local families today celebrated the opening of FranDelJA Fairfax, a new state-of-the-art child care center that will serve 70 infants, toddlers and preschoolers in the Bayview community.

“Every child should have a clean, safe and inviting place to learn, grow and play,” said Acting Mayor Breed. “This beautiful new facility – located where a dilapidated public housing site once stood - will bring the best services available to local children and families. When we rebuild our public housing, it is not just about replacing the structures, it is about providing services that uplift and strengthen our communities for future generations.”

The center is a key amenity planned by residents and community partners through the Hunters View public housing transformation of HOPE SF. FranDelJA Fairfax provides affordable, high-quality child care and early learning services to low-income and working families of the Bayview. The program offers a full day of services, with specialized staffing to meet the unique needs of infants, toddlers and preschool learners.

“Today, we stand tall as a community, and have demonstrated that we put our resources where our values are,” said Supervisor Cohen. “Investing in high-quality child care and early learning for our most precious resources—our families—is one of the most transformative approaches we can move forward. This is an incredible and historic moment for the Bayview, and our City as a whole.”

The center uses two evidence based programs—the Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) and the HighScope preschool curriculum—to maximize the early learning and development of each child enrolled. 

“This is an incredible moment for the Hunters View community,” said Office of Community Infrastructure and Investment Executive Director, Nadia Sesay. “With the opening of this center for learning, our City is fulfilling the old promises to generations of families that their children can share in the prosperity and opportunity of San Francisco from the start.”

FranDelJA, a nonprofit, was established in 2000 by two sisters, Gladys Harris and Sandra Young, as a way to meet the early learning needs of children and families residing in the Bayview Hunters Point community. The program originally started at 950 Gilman Street near the Alice Griffith public housing site.

With the opening of the Fairfax site at Hunters View, the sisters will now operate two facilities, reaching a total of 140 children and families annually. The new site is particularly meaningful for the sisters, as they grew up in Hunters View.

“The new FranDelJA Fairfax center means more children in Bayview Hunters Point will have an opportunity to develop and learn in a safe environment,” said Gladys Harris, Executive Director of the FranDelJA Enrichment Center. “As former residents, my sister and I founded FranDelJA with the mission to provide high quality early care and education that leads to school readiness and to support families so that they can meet their goals for success. For more than 15 years we have worked in and with this community to create opportunities for learning and growth for children and the people who love them.”

FranDelJA was selected to develop and operate the Fairfax center through a competitive request for proposals process. The organization holds a long-term low cost lease in return for offering services to the Hunters View and surrounding Bayview Community. The $1.4 million child care center was made possible through the collaboration of several partners including HOPE SF, the John Stewart Company, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education.