Gladstone Center for Children and Families

The Gladstone Center for Children and Families (GCCF) was conceived as a partnership between public and private agencies and was funded through ARRA, Federally Qualified Health Center Funds, CareOregon, and School District Medical (uninsured and insured) to address the needs of families and young children from birth to six years of age.

Converting a 30,000 sq. ft. former grocery store into an Early Childhood Center, we were able to combine the District’s kindergarten classes with Clackamas County Education Services District’s Early Intervention Program, along with Head Start Classes from the Clackamas Children’s Commission Head Start. This building also allows Healthy Start of Clackamas County to consolidate all of their family support workers in one location where parents can experience the educational opportunities available to the Center students.

By participating in early visioning exercises, we asked “what if” questions and helped all of the partners at the table dream about what this center could become. Guiding them through this goal-setting process, supported by both physical and virtual tours of programs with similar characteristics, we were able to arrive at a design that provides state-of-the-art early educational classrooms, collaborative partner space, and gathering spaces for small and large groups.

In collaboration with Clackamas Community College’s Early Childhood Development program, this center also serves as a research and development site where future childhood educators can do their practicum.