Finding affordable child care is a struggle for many families with young children living in South Los Angeles.
"I got to the point where I couldn't figure out what I was going to do," Shameka Jones said.
The single mother of two had difficulty finding a child care center for her kids so she could attend culinary school.
"There's been times where I felt like giving up because I felt like I didn't have the resources, the help, as a single mother, and they changed that," Jones said.
Her children are previous graduates of one of the early childhood education programs through Hope Street Margolis Family Center, which gave her the chance to complete her culinary training at LA Trade Tech.
"I graduated with honors, and I did full-time the whole time I was there," Jones said.
The Nest will provide services for up to 32 children ages 18 months to 36 months and prioritize parents looking for work or experiencing homelessness, many as a result of the pandemic.
"Research shows that kids who have social skills do a lot better in school and even further on after they finish school. It's a chance to get a head start on that and start getting kids used to problem-solving," said Juan Ledezma, literacy manager at Hope Street Margolis Family Center.
The new early childhood education center is now the fourth location in the Hope Street network. It's on St. Mark's Church campus across the street from USC, and construction took about two years. The existing building was transformed into a state-of-the-art facility with multiple classroom spaces.
"They already had a program here that they, unfortunately, weren't able to keep up, and so this is a true partnership," said Alina Moran, president of Hospital Medical Center, which helped launch the Hope Street program in 1992.
"Really, the value here was taking an underutilized space and creating a new use for it," said Aram Guzman, a designer with Perkins&Will, an architecture firm.
One of the first things designers did was remove the bars on the windows, an all too common sight in this area.
"It also creates a place of home. I mean, can you imagine seeing bars on your window every day?" Guzman said.
And on the inside, Guzman said his team wanted the kids to feel enveloped in the space. Architects looked to create a flowing environment with lots of natural light along with an open floor concept.
"Teachers are doing more collaboration than if they would if they were in a standalone class," Ledezma said.
Jones said she's incredibly grateful to the staff and all who ensured her kids not only had a free place to go but also to learn and socialize.
"I tell them all the time how I appreciate the hard work that they put in," Jones said of the staff.
And while she won't directly benefit from the newest center, Jones said: "It looks very comfortable. It looks like I can stay here."
She's excited to see other families find the same success as hers, she said.