Saint Vincent's Day Home's (SVDH) mission is to provide quality child care and child development services to those in greatest need while offering family services in which children and youth are nurtured and educated and their parents supported in meeting parental responsibilities.

Description:
SVDH is a private, non-sectarian, non-profit child development center serving the working poor in West Oakland caring for 230 young children, ages 2 years through 6 years old. SVDH's top priority is promoting and enhancing the self-esteem and self-image of each child, based on personal, cultural uniqueness, cultural pride and success experiences. We emphasize the age appropriate development of the whole child; that is, emotional, physical, social interaction, education, imagination, and creativity. Our children are provided daily with a hot breakfast, complete lunch, and a nutritious afternoon snack. By design, our menu meets 100% of a child's nutritional needs, guarding against deficiency should a family be unable to meet these needs at home. Founded in 1911, the Day Home has been a "home away from home" for more than 32,000 children. Annual health screenings include dental, vision, hearing, and speech. Parent education is provided on a regular basis, and the topics are usually decided by our Parent Board. The Day Home is quite fortunate to have individual play therapy available to us three days a week, and speech therapy available weekly. We are also proud of a good record of staff stability which is not often experienced in our field of child care. Another unique fact is that many of our children spend several years at SVDH.

History:
Saint Vincent's was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Family to care for children of the working poor in 1911. The Day Home was one of the original agencies of the Community Chest (later to become the United Way of the Bay Area) in 1921. SVDH was invited to make a presentation at the White House Conference on Children in 1970. Government child care funding began in 1972. In 1998 our Board of Directors successfully completed the transition of ownership of the corporation and facility. SVDH launched and completed in three years a $3.8 million capital, which expanded our facility to house 4 new classrooms and the Hedco Family Learning Center in 2003. In 2005, ChevronTexaco donated $200,000 to fund the total operating costs of the Hedco Family Learning Center. In 2007, SVDH was awarded $208,000 for Pre-Kindergarten & Family Literacy Program from the California Department of Education. In 2008, SVDH began its collaboration with UWBA’s Raising A Reader program.

Contact people:

Sr. Ann Maureen Murphy, Development Director, (510) 832-8324, (email) Jennifer Youngblood, Program Director, (510) 832-8324, (email) Corinne Mohrmann, Executive Director, (510) 832-8324, (email)

Office fax number: (510) 832-5021

Address:

1086 - 8th Street Oakland, CA 94607 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.svdh.org

Directions:

Coming from Concord, Walnut Creek take CA - 24 toward San Francisco/Oakland. Merge onto I-980 going toward Oakland/San Jose. Please take the 12th/14th Street Exit and make a sharp right turn. 12th Street turns into 10th Street. . . (more)   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: West Oakland BART,   Walk distance (in minutes): 10 - 15   Nearest Bus Stop: 82 Line/7th & Adeline Streets, 5 - 6 minute walk