Friendship Community Care acquires Children’s Center
Friendship Community Care announced last week that it has acquired the Siloam Springs Children’s Center with plans to operate and manage the childcare provider.
Friendship Community Care, founded in 1972, is a non-profit that currently provides an array of services for children and adults with disabilities in 47 Arkansas counties. Siloam Springs Children’s Center, established in the early 1990s, provides childcare for infants through age 12, and offers an educational curriculum to help prepare students for school.
All staff members from both facilities will remain in their current positions, and all children will continue to receive services at their respective locations, according to a press release.
The non-profit made an offer to acquire the Siloam Springs Children’s Center after careful consideration and with the community’s best interest at heart, said Angela Traweek, Friendship’s chief operation officer.
“Our team has been working closely with the Children’s Center’s operating Board of Directors, and together the decision was made to merge the Children’s Center into the Friendship Community Care family — both to ensure the financial security of the Children’s Center’s employees, as well as to assure each child and family served by the Center continues to receive quality care,” Traweek said.
Minor adjustments will be made in how the Children’s Center and Friendship Pediatric Services conduct business in the months ahead. Friendship Pediatric Services will eventually, as the renovation budget allows, be fully housed in the current Children’s Center location. Both teams will unite under one roof with the name “Friendship Pediatric Services,” the press release stated.
Siloam Springs Children’s Center was established through the collaborative efforts of local businesses, the city and the Chamber of Commerce economic development committee, according to director Mary Nolan. It was built on land donated by the city and funded by local businesses, she said.
The center operates on the fees it collects for childcare, although it can be difficult to fill the gap between the actual costs of childcare and what price local families can afford to pay, she said. Over the years, the center has made several improvements to the facility, but if anything were to go wrong it would be difficult to find money for repairs, she said. Friendship Community Care is cramped for space, and the Children’s Center offers plenty of room for growth, she said.
“They are quite a large professional organization and have been doing business for a very long time,” Nolan said.
Friendship Community Care saw some value in what the Children’s Center has to offer and thought it would be a good addition to their services, she said. The non-profit also brings stability and training opportunities to the Children’s Center, she said.
Friendship Community Care already has two locations for children’s services in Siloam Springs, and recently invested in a new day treatment program for adults in downtown Siloam Springs. Services offered in Siloam Springs include complimentary developmental screenings, therapeutic preschool placement, Arkansas better chance placement, at-home therapy options and waiver support, developmental day treatment placement and community employment placement.
“It is our sincere joy to ensure that each child served by the Siloam Springs Children’s Center will continue to receive quality care for years to come, and we are excited to transition our new Children’s Center team members into the FCC family.” said Traweek. “It is our mission to provide a true life-cycle of care for children and adults navigating life with a disability as well as typically developing children. Acquiring the Siloam Springs Children’s Center and providing Day Treatment and Community Employment opportunities is a direct effort on our part to enhance the offerings for families within the greater Siloam Springs area who are in need of these services.”
To learn more about Friendship Community Care, you can visit www. fccare.org. To learn more about Job Path, powered by Friendship Community Care, you can visit www.jobpath4you.com.