$3.4 million grant for Isabel Patterson Child Development Center illustrates power of partnerships
The Isabel Patterson Child Development Center has long been a cornerstone of CSULB’s efforts to expand educational access, providing affordable childcare services to students with young children. A recent $3.4 million federal grant serves as the latest testament to its strong, long-lasting partnerships, which bolster its mission and continued success.
Opening our university to collaborative partnerships is a key tenet of our campus mission to build community, a CSULB priority declared in our Beach 2030 strategic plan. Advancing partnerships for the public good is a focused goal of the Beach 2030 initiative, an acknowledgement of the profound impact that meaningful collaborations can have on our students and the community.
Among the IPCDC’s numerous partners are the California Department of Education and the California Department of Social Services — grants from which support student-parents with subsidized care, said AlecSandria Colchico, director of the Center. More support comes from the Associated Students, Inc. at CSULB — under which the center was created — as well as the university and various other collaborators.
“It's like this big circle, because everything is supporting everything,” she said.
Congressman Robert Garcia, a former Long Beach mayor and CSULB alum, secured the recent federal grant after a funding request last year meant to address community projects in his district. The submission was approved last month, and Garcia presented the check during a ceremony outside the IPCDC April 5.
President Jane Close Conoley thanked the congressman in a March news release, saying, “we are immensely grateful to Rep. Garcia’s sponsorship and advocacy in helping these planned improvements become a reality.”
The funds will go toward needed upgrades on the facility, like the electrical and HVAC systems, which have not been updated in decades, Colchico said. These improvements will help the center continue its mission for years to come, she noted, ensuring no student at The Beach is left without access to education due to lack of childcare options.
"We've been here for 50-plus years, and the goal is to continue to be here for another 50-plus years because of how successfully [IPCDC] enables student-parents of Cal State Long Beach to complete their education, knowing that their children are also receiving an education,” Colchico said.
In addition to its childcare services, the IPCDC partners with CSULB students and employees for research and educational opportunities, Colchico added. The center is listed among internship sites where CSULB students in the child development and family studies program can obtain required hours of service in the field, and Colchico said students and faculty in the department of kinesiology have previously collaborated with the IPCDC for academic research.
The center is also a boon to the dozens of student-assistants supporting certified teaching staff at the IPCDC each year, she added, who find development opportunities in the work they do at the center. Their educational backgrounds vary — students are hired from across colleges at CSULB — but they leave the role with a meaningful professional skillset and profound understanding of how to work with children.
“We have prepared students that come to us from all sorts of majors, and when they leave us, they really have a good grasp of how to work with kids,” Colchico said.
