New Market West Grand Opening

Elected officials, community partners and education advocates joined Wonderspring at a festive ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of New Market West, its brand-new early childhood education center in West Philadelphia.

       

   

 

Serving up to 123 children and creating 30 jobs

According to Wonderspring CEO, Zakiyyah Boone, Wonderspring New Market West will serve up to 123 infants through school-age children and will create 30 jobs. The new center will provide high-quality, evidence-based programming that meets the state’s Early Learning Standards by focusing on the intellectual, developmental, social, emotional, and relational aspects of the whole child.
 
“This center has been a long time in the making, but we have poured so much love and passion into this project and we couldn’t be more thrilled to open our doors to the children and families of West Philadelphia,” said Boone.
 
    

Bringing resources to families

The new center is located in the New Market West neighborhood transformation development, which is bringing high-quality early childhood education, primary health care, support for previously homeless single-parent families, behavioral health services, and community-serving retail to a transit-accessible location together with affordable rental housing to the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia.
 
“We recognize the importance of ensuring that families have the resources they need to thrive. The fact that New Market West is a neighborhood transformation initiative aimed at improving the quality of life for the community was a key driver in our decision to open a center here,” said Boone.
 
Philadelphia City Councilman, Curtis Jones, noted that “New Market West represents the transformation of land that was once an abandoned gas station to a high-quality education center for our children. But this is even more than an educational center,” he said. “It is an economic development project, because without reliable childcare, parents cannot return to work.”
 
Sean Perkins, Chief of Early Childhood Education for the City of Philadelphia spoke to the importance of high-quality childcare. “This is where deductive reasoning, executive function, negotiation skills, literacy and empathy begins,” he said.
 
Wonderspring is currently enrolling children at the new center. Click the button below to complete an application.