CAMPAIGN PRIORITY: Children’s Village at Doylestown Hospital

RAISING THE BAR FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

On August 4, 2020, an EF2 tornado touched down in Doylestown and caused significant damage to the hospital campus, including Children’s Village. Working quickly and courageously, teachers, aides, physicians, staff, and emergency responders safely evacuated the building. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, but Children’s Village was damaged beyond repair. Thanks to the generous outpouring of gifts in the form of toys, crafts, supplies, and equipment, Children’s Village was able to resume operations in a temporary location nearby on Ferry Road.

Now, with One Vision, we will rebuild Children’s Village on the Doylestown Hospital campus with exciting new features and amenities, and ample space to serve our growing community of families.

National Recognition and Advanced Curriculum

Children’s Village is a fully licensed and nationally accredited early childhood education center, offering programs for children six weeks of age, up to and including kindergarten. They are fully licensed and accredited by the prestigious National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), maintain a STAR-4 rating (the highest) in the Pennsylvania Keystone STARS Quality Initiative, and are licensed and accredited by both the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Carefully designed curriculum at Children’s Village employs Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and concentrates on the behavioral, social, emotional, and intellectual well-being and growth of each individual student, establishing a strong learning foundation for each child and fostering a positive learning environment with ample opportunities for play. For over 35 years, Children’s Village was the “home away from home” for thousands of children from our local community. Today, Children’s Village serves second-generation children and families—parents, who were once students, trust their little ones to our care.

Support of this campaign priority will allow the program to return from its temporary location to Doylestown Hospital’s flagship campus in a new and upgraded facility incorporating best practices in safety and early childhood learning. Help us bring Children’s Village home so that we can continue this extraordinary tradition of service and excellence in high-quality care and early childhood education.

Project Highlights

The new and upgraded Children’s Village design will feature:

Four infant rooms, four young toddler rooms, three older toddler rooms, four preschool rooms, and one kindergarten room
A multipurpose area for gatherings, assemblies, and fitness
Dedicated library space with a two-story reading ‘treehouse’
Separate interactive playgrounds for younger and older children including a planting garden and splash pad play areas
A tech-equipped “smart” kindergarten room
A dedicated art room and teaching kitchen
An administrative suite for teachers, staff, and care professionals
Low-impact environmental building design with optimized natural light
An integrative classroom environment and dedicated learning space
Enhanced safety and security
Environmentally friendly building standards

Groundbreaking

On Saturday, December 4, 2021, Doylestown Health held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Children’s Village, which will be rebuilt on the Doylestown Hospital campus for a scheduled opening in 2023. Donors, local officials, legislators, and families and staff of Children’s Village gathered near the construction site to mark the ceremonial commencement of the rebuild project.

Join Us

Children’s Village is an integral part of our health system and our community. With One Vision, Doylestown Health is committed to providing early childhood education and daycare within easy reach of Doylestown Hospital, in a new facility commensurate with our standards for excellence and reputation for compassionate care.

Your gift to the Second Century Fund will ensure the children and families of our community can continue to rely on Doylestown Health for excellent childhood care and will support capital and priority needs, ongoing maintenance, continued innovations, and subsidized tuition for qualified families for generations to come.

Recognition opportunities are available. For more information about the One Vision campaign, and to learn more about naming opportunities, click here or contact the Doylestown Health Foundation Office at 215.345.2009.

$1.5 Million Children’s Village Challenge Match

With a $1.5 million commitment from longstanding and visionary supporters Jeanne and John Hubbard, PhD, Doylestown Health launched the $1.5 Million Children’s Village Challenge Match, completed in March 2022, to accelerate construction of the new facility and bring Children’s Village home to its original location on the Doylestown Hospital campus.

Read about “Teddy Bear Come Home,” a story written for children to ease anxiety about bad weather. Part of the proceeds from the story will be donated to ONE VISION: The Campaign for Doylestown Health in support of rebuilding Children’s Village.