詹妮弗·k·森田著

2022年9月29日

Kids taking a tumble at the ASI Children’s Center playground will have a softer landing thanks to a $1 million earmark in the state budget.

国会议员凯文·麦卡蒂9月29日在博彩平台中心外的新闻发布会上宣布了这笔资金。

“I had the opportunity to put together a list of $25 million to reinvest in a dozen or so projects around 萨克拉门托, and this was certainly one that rose to the top of my list,” McCarty said.

“I’m a big believer in early education … That’s why I’m super excited to have this one-time check here today.”

Associated Students 公司。 operates the Children’s Center, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 从6个月到幼儿园的150多名儿童在这里注册，主要服务于像加比·麦卡特尼这样的学生家长。

“This is my first experience on campus as well as my first time apart from my daughter,” McCartney said. “I was very nervous about leaving her at a facility I trusted. The Children’s Center has done an amazing job. 她爱上了每一位老师，每一位学生，当然，还有这里的小鸡。

“Each day she comes here, I’m blown away by the teachers and how much she’s progressing. I know she’s in a place where she’s loved and taken care of … I’m so grateful to the assemblyman for his generosity and support.”

This year’s state budget included funding for programs at multiple CSU campuses.

麦卡蒂是国会预算教育小组委员会主席，他为Sac州立大学的项目争取到了140多万美元，其中包括：

• 30万美元用于创建用于三维数据分析的人工智能/混合现实教室。
• $100,000 to increase 萨克拉门托学期 housing stipends and scholarships to help visiting students enrolled in the immersive internship program in policymaking.
• A 10% pay increase for students participating in 资本的家伙, a nationally recognized fellowship program that offers unique experiences in policymaking and development in each branch of the government. The funding will raise fellows’ monthly salary to $3,253.

McCarty’s mother, Barbara J. McCarty, was a single mom who raised four children and worked while attending community college before graduating from 囊状态.

“The assemblyman knows firsthand the challenges many of our students face finding affordable child care,” Vice President of 学生事务 Ed Mills said. “These funds will help improve the playground, update the facility, and keep the rates low.”

About a third of 囊状态’s 31,000 students have dependents, according to Mills.

“囊状态 is a caring and welcoming campus. We want all of our students, including ones with children, to be able to study here, thrive here, and earn their degree here,” Mills said.

Much of the money for the Children’s Center will go toward resurfacing the playground areas and subsidizing the cost of child care for low-income 囊状态 students.

Construction on the main building of the ASI Children’s Center was completed in 1988. 该游乐场由三个独立的区域组成，分别供婴幼儿、2-3岁儿童和学龄前儿童使用，据负责人雪莉·维尔特（Sherry Velte）介绍，该游乐场建在水泥和沥青上。

“Over the years, all of the sand and topsoil have eroded and just washed away from the rains,” Velte said. “Our yards have been flagged as ‘unsafe’ every time they are assessed, and that is because we don’t have the proper surfacing.”

Without funds to replace the surfacing, Velte would enlist the help of teachers, parents, and ASI students to cut and layout artificial turf she’d purchased at the local home improvement store.

“But it doesn’t meet regulations and it wears out,” Velte said.

That’s why she jumped at the chance to make her case for additional funding.

“I just prayed the stars would align and the funding would come through for us, and it did,” Velte said. “I immediately started calling playground companies to get people over here to tell me what we’re looking at.”

Money allocated for the Children’s Center will also pay for office improvements and furniture for the front entry area.