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\u201cThis is a game changer for the\u00a0JCC, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m overstating it when I say I think it can be a game changer for the city of Albany,\u201d\u00a0Posner said.<\/p>\n
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Families do not have to be JCC members to sign up for child care. The\u00a0JCC also accepts child care vouchers from the local departments of social services for all child care programs, including after-school care. Posner did not release the number of vouchers the center currently receives.<\/p>\n
Only one other project in the Capital Region received an NY BRICKS grant. The Civic Center of Moreau received $712,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The biggest recipients were in New York City: the city\u2019s Parks and Recreation Department received $15 million for a new community center. In addition to the Albany JCC, other nonprofits awarded grants include one YMCA and two Boys and Girls Clubs. Projects that offered affordable child care, elder care, or mental health care were prioritized.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Domino plan’<\/p>\n
The Albany JCC project also includes a new fitness center and a move of the senior center nearer to the parking lot.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis has been something I have been thinking about for years,\u201d\u00a0Posner said of the entire plan, which he calls the \u201cdomino plan\u201d because so many services are moving to other parts of the building.<\/p>\n
He said the\u00a0JCC \u201cwas not functional in its current state,\u201d so he personally wrote most of the grant to apply for the comprehensive changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0JCC will build a 3,000-square-foot addition for the fitness center next to the current senior center area, which will be wrapped into \u201ca brand new, more modern fitness center,\u201d Posner said.<\/p>\n
The senior center will move to the former youth services area, where seniors can park near a ground-level entrance.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSeniors can have on-level access to the building, close to where their primary activities are taking place. They won\u2019t have to come in the (fitness) entrance where everyone works out, and share the parking lot with them,\u201d\u00a0Posner said.<\/p>\n
He has big plans for the rest of the\u00a0JCC, too, though those plans aren\u2019t covered by the state grant.<\/p>\n
He wants to build a kosher kitchen and remove the stage in the auditorium. With the stage gone, there would be direct access to the auditorium from the kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can become a real social hall,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we use the stage for can be easily achieved through temporary risers. We don\u2019t use it to the degree that we have to commit 50% of the space. It\u2019s a very deep stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He also wants to add an upscale art studio for 3- and 4-year-olds. There, they would be given tools to make art and told they are budding artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a school of thought about design that says children deserve, as much as anyone, the right to beautiful spaces that really say to them, \u2018You are a valued person,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Then he wants to develop more of the 4.25 acres outside the building, where they recently added two yurts. More development there could enhance their summer camp, he said.<\/p>\n
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For the rest of the work, the JCC will hold a capital campaign. No total dollar amount has been decided yet, although the\u00a0state grant requires a $1.8 million match from the JCC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children play at the Albany JCC, which just won a $5 million grant to expand child care and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30394,67,844,610,9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-65936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-alco","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-latestnews","11":"tag-local","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-new-york-state","16":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}