The Home for Little Wanderers plans to sell its Knight Children’s Center (KCC) on South Huntington Avenue in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood and move to Walpole as a cost savings measure.
The Home’s 1914 building is the agency’s oldest and most well-known program site in Eastern Massachusetts. The campus currently houses a year-round residential and day school treatment program for boys and girls aged 5 to 13 with a wide range of emotional, behavioral, educational and psychiatric needs. The Home will relocate the program to its 166-acre Longview Farm property in Walpole where it has provided services to youth since 1940.
"The costs associated with renovating or replacing the Jamaica Plain campus would be prohibitive," said Pam Herbst, vice-chair and head of the real estate committee of The Home for Little Wanderers’ board of directors. "Additionally, we could not ignore the fact that The Home will enjoy a million dollar annualized cost savings by consolidating the KCC program onto the Longview Farm Campus in Walpole."
While the programs that are located at KCC are relocating, The Home is not leaving the Boston area and intends to remain a preeminent organization in the city for generations to come. Today, with the majority of its community programs based in Boston, The Home’s presence is increasing in new ways as child welfare trends away from residential services, according to a statement.
The move to Walpole involves the construction of a new state-of-the-art special education school and four new residences. The Home has launched its Third Century capital campaign to fund the new project. When complete, the facility will:
• Provide a superior and healthier environment for the children currently being served at KCC.
• Maximize use of Longview Farm, only a small portion of which is currently being utilized.
• Enable The Home to provide additional services to more children in the commonwealth through a consolidated and more cost-effective program.
"Throughout The Home’s history as a leader in providing child welfare services to some of our state’s most vulnerable children, we’ve always been committed to offering a safe and nurturing environment where youth can reach their full potential," said Joan Wallace-Benjamin, president and CEO of The Home. "This is not the first time in its history that The Home has moved locations to better accommodate the changing needs in child care. When KCC opened in 1914 it was described as unique because it offered everything a child needed to thrive under one roof."
