By Michael Coughlin Jr.

The Shattuck Child Care Center (SCCC), founded in 1969 as the National Council of Jewish Women Greater Boston Section Child Care Center, will soon move into its own permanent location at the Brooke House, a new development from a partnership between 2Life Communities (2Life) and Lena New Boston, following construction.

The SCCC, which serves children from 15 months to six years old and originally called the Shattuck Hospital campus home, has been in a shared space at the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain since 2017.

“We are so excited to have been welcomed to join the Brooke House project because we will be in our own newly beautifully designed space back where we started from,” said Mary Grace Casey, SCCC’s Co-Director who has been with the organization since 1980.

“That’s how we look at this; we’re going back home. We’re going back to that — as one of our parents put it — the crossroads of the JP, Mattapan, Hyde Park, Dorchester line.”

The Brooke House, which will be built on the site of the old Boston State Hospital campus in Mattapan, is slated to contain 127 affordable senior apartments, space for the SCCC, and a Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center satellite location.

As to why this future move is a draw for the SCCC, Casey spoke to permanence. While Casey expressed her gratitude for the space at the church, she explained that currently, all of SCCC’s equipment has to be on wheels and that it has to be moved for the church services.

“It’s a wonderful space, but it’s not necessarily as conducive to our programming,” said Casey.

In the new space, Casey hopes to permanently display children’s artwork and photos for attendance exercises and expand. Regarding expansion, the SCCC is currently licensed for 46 children, nine of whom are toddlers.

Casey hopes to expand that number to 18 toddlers so the SCCC can have two toddler programs and a total of 55 children.

In addition to this move providing more opportunities and better convenience for SCCC, it also creates the possibility of intergenerational activities and interactions between seniors living at the Brooke House and the children being served by the SCCC.

“Intergenerational programming is one of our signature elements… and one of the things our residents love the most,” said Lizbeth Heyer, President of 2Life, an organization focused on affordable senior housing.

Heyer spoke about its existing programs like toddler/senior exercise, intergenerational art projects, pen pal exchanges, and more.

“Older adults are often made invisible in our society, so the opportunity to be seen and heard and valued and respected for their life experience and to contribute and give back in a role as a mentor, and a friend, and an extended grandparent to a child is so life-giving and so life-affirming,” said Heyer.

“The opportunity to have purpose and connection for older adults is truly life-saving, and there’s extensive data that proves it.”

Casey mentioned that intergenerational care is near and dear to her heart. She discussed potential opportunities for children to read and garden with seniors and for volunteers to work with SCCC.

“We would do a lot around making sure the kids were comfortable and knew that they had the right to say no,” said Casey. “It would be a lot of give and take around it, but knowing the organization that 2Life is, we don’t have any qualms about that.”

As exciting as the future move is for SCCC, it is just as exciting for Heyer and 2Life. Not only does the space for SCCC address the desire for child care space, which 2Life heard from the community while being designated to develop the land, but Heyer also has a personal connection with the SCCC.

Heyer, who lived in Jamaica Plain for 15 years, had her children attend SCCC. Heyer spoke about staying connected with SCCC through their displacement from the Shattuck Hospital and how she jumped at the chance to bring the organization to the Brooke House.

“Personally, being able to work with them on being able to secure a permanent home for Shattuck was just really fulfilling for me,” she said.

According to Heyer, construction on the Brooke House is slated to begin in 2026 and last about 18-20 months. Heyer also said that the city has provided “substantial funding” for the project and that they are in the process of getting funding from the state, which is anticipated to come in the spring.

However, it should be noted that Heyer indicated that federal money is a key source of funding for the project. Though she stated that this funding is not in trouble, she said, “Anybody who relies on federal funding for community benefits right now would be crazy to not be concerned.”

Ultimately, both 2Life and SCCC are excited about this endeavor. “On a scale of it doesn’t get better than this, it really doesn’t get better than this,” said Heyer.

“It just kind of is a really nice way of, I think, coming full circle for us and gives me the hope that Shattuck can continue for a long time,” said Casey.