Interfaith Neighbors are 'Meeting the Moment' on the West Side of Asbury Park

ASBURY PARK - Interfaith Neighbors has started construction of a new Early Childhood Learning Center, part of the group's $18 million Meeting the Moment campaign.

Interfaith Neighbors is a nonprofit organization founded in 1988 when local faith communities came together to address the growing problem of homelessness. Their mission is to assist the most vulnerable with meeting life’s necessities.

The $3 million Early Childhood Learning Center will provide education and enrichment in a caring environment for children from three months to three years old, offer tuition based on a family’s ability to pay, and serve as a hub for the entire family while connecting them with additional Interfaith services, programs and networks.

The 4,200-square foot learning center will be located at 302 Atkins Ave. in Asbury Park and will be named sometime in the near future. The center is licensed to accommodate up to 34 children.

Interfaith Neighbors hopes the center can open as early as January 2023.

More: Asbury Park to get $500K for contaminated property cleanups

The Meeting the Moment campaign is designed to address a wide range of issues, including education, childcare, food insecurity and access to nutritious food, job training and employment opportunities, affordable housing, and highlighting and celebrating the cultural heritage of Asbury Park's West Side neighborhood.

Paul McEvily, Executive Director of Interfaith Neighbors, said a lot of work went into the project before the ground breaking ceremony on May 10.

He said Interfaith Neighbors has a neighborhood revitalization plan approved at the state level.

"So we've been working with the local community residents and other organizations to revitalize the West Side, as the city has enjoyed a revitalization. So it encompasses affordable housing, it encompasses economic development, a variety of different programs workforce related, workforce training, the development of the Springwood Center building is part and parcel of that revitalization effort," McEvily said.

'Saving lives with music': Asbury Park Music Foundation names executive director

The $7 million Springwood Center on Springwood Avenue was developed by Interfaith Neighbors in concert with the city.

"The Springwood Center is the first new commercial space on the avenue since the civil disturbances that go back to the 1970s. That is a very visible fine change in what had been a barren landscape," McEvily said.

The nonprofit hopes the construction will be completed in the next nine months.

Kerwin Webb is an Education Specialist for Interfaith Neighbors based at the launch center on Springwood Avenue.

"We work with people who are young adults or middle aged, 25-years old up to 40-years old, who are looking to improve their skills to get out of jobs and into careers," Webb said.

Their leadership team realized how great it would be to be able to teach those same skills to younger students.

More: Longtime Asbury Park pastor had 'one foot in the church and one foot in the community'

Around two years ago, Chip Craig, the Associate Executive Director of Interfaith Neighbors, told Webb about the project.

"As we sat down and talked about it, (Craig) told me the vision of the donor/the sponsor was to build, to open an Early Childhood Learning Center so we can really help make the right type of investments in early education so that students will have better outcomes going forward," Webb said.

If good behaviors are not learned by certain early ages it can be a lot harder to change the trajectory of that student.

"So getting them at an earlier age, teaching life skills and incorporating that into the curriculum and really looking at students as individuals as opposed to being in a factory type system with a regular traditional school, we figured that would be a great addition," Webb said.

The motivation behind the project is rooted in the task of enrolling as many students from the West Side of Asbury Park as possible.

"The ability to pay is not going to be a burden because we will accept state subsidies or child care that families have, but also there may be some situations to where families can enroll on a sliding scale. Because we want to make sure that families aren't turned away from this great opportunity because of their resources or lack thereof," Webb said.

More: Asbury Park student will attend Yale, credits Sisters Academy with instilling 'work ethic'

Linda P. Eno of Shore Education Consultants is working for Interfaith Neighbors as the Project Manager of the Early Childhood Learning Center.

She said the dream is to expand the services and community support that is being offered on the West Side of Asbury.

The Early Childhood Learning Center will be a Montessori-based program, an educational philosophy named after its founder, Dr. Maria Montessori. The Montessori philosophy aims to foster the growth of the whole child in all developmental areas; cognitive, social, physical, and emotional.

Craig said the learning center is a statement of commitment to the West Side community.

" I think in the long term, education at the earliest ages we all know brings an opening of the mind for the future. So it is pretty impactful to be able to start this learning center," Craig said.

Peter Cancro, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Jersey Mike’s, has been an essential financial backer and committed to Interfaith Neighbors and the Meeting the Moment campaign.

“In recent months, I have been impressed by the promise of positive change that Interfaith’s Meeting the Moment campaign can bring to the west side of Asbury Park and am confident the broader community of Monmouth County will be equally inspired by the goals of this campaign and the services Interfaith Neighbors will be able to support through the success of this campaign,” Cancro said.

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park NJ Interfaith Neighbors early childhood learning center