A change is planned at the Elizabeth Clarke Flaherty Early Childcare and Education Center on the campus of the
University of Maine at Machias. Beginning June 1, 2008, Child and Family Opportunities, Inc. (CFO),
a private non-profit early care and education agency will take over operations of the 25-slot child care center
from the University, according to a joint press release from UMM President Cynthia E. Huggins and
CFO Executive Director Jeanie Mills.
The child care center has been operating on the campus since 2001, originally under the auspices of the
Washington Hancock Community Agency. But since 2005, UMM has operated the program independently and at a significant
annual budget deficit. Earlier this year university officials decided to close the program, because it needed to focus
its resources on providing high-quality undergraduate education to its students.
The new arrangement involves CFO leasing the Flaherty Center facilities from UMM with no break in services
for the parents who are using the child care program. Child care services for infants, toddlers and preschoolers
will continue to be offered to UMM students, faculty, staff and community members when CFO assumes responsibility for
the program in June.
“The University of Maine at Machias will no longer be operating child care services, but we are pleased to be
leasing the facility to CFO,” said UMM administrator Kim Page, who worked out the details of the arrangement
with Jeanie Mills, executive director of CFO. “The University is excited that the Flaherty Center will continue
to operate as an early care and education center. It is important to our future and our local community that children
have quality care early in their development.”
In addition, Head Start services may be available for eligible families at the UMM site in addition to CFO’s
Marshfield location. CFO is the Head Start grantee for Hancock and Washington counties. Headquartered in
Ellsworth, CFO operates either privately or collaboratively 12 center-based child care and/or Head Start Centers,
including collaborative Public Pre-K programs, across Washington and Hancock Counties. One of the 11 centers is
the Machias Early Care and Education Center in Marshfield.
Enrollment at both the Flaherty Center and CFO’s Machias Early Care and Education Center has declined as area
public schools have offered more part and full-day free Public Pre-K programs to 4-year-olds. This has contributed
to lost revenue and threatened the viability of operating comprehensive, quality child care programs in the Machias
community, Mills said. By joining forces, CFO is hoping to assure that comprehensive early care and education services
will be offered to infants, toddlers and preschool-age children in the Machias area. CFO plans to continue its operation
of two centers in the Machias area when it takes over the Flaherty Center. However, programming at each site will be better
coordinated to provide for efficiencies in operations.
Both centers are “Quality” centers as designated by the State of Maine and as such, parents who use either
program are eligible for double their Maine State Child Care tax credit, Mills noted. “I look forward to working
closely with the highly qualified staff at the Flaherty Center, meeting the parents and children and continuing the
quality services the community has relied on from the program. I appreciate the opportunity to also work more closely
with the University in assuring that its students and staff have quality, accessible child care on campus,” Mills noted.
Christine Rudd, the director of the Flaherty Center, will work closely with children, families,
staff and CFO to ensure a smooth transition in June. CFO has been working since March to keep parents
and staff informed of their progress as the changeover approaches.
For more information about the program, including information about enrollment,
please contact CFO’s Enrollment Specialist, Trista Chase at 667-2995 or 1-800-834-4378.
