14 Kirk Street, Lowell MA 01852
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Training and Small Business Development
© 2006 Acre Family Day Care
Updated April 27, 2007
Acre families learn day-care liberation
by Jonathan McNeilly, Sun Staff
Lowell Sun
June 5, 1998
Lowell -- Anita Moeller and the Acre Family Day Care Corp. are getting Mill City families off welfare.
And what began as a college project 12 years ago for Moeller has become on of Lowell's greatest social resources for low-income and immigrant families looking to enter the work force.
The mission of Acre Family, of which Moeller is executive director, is not to provide direct care for local preschoolers, but to educate and train welfare recipients how to open and operate private, home-based day-care centers.
By teaching women how to run their own businesses, Moeller has empowered hundreds of families to get off the government dole and enter the job market.
Acre Family's mission is twofold: provide direct jobs to those wishing to enter the day-care industry; and provide other welfare recipients affordable day care so they can enter the job market.
"Right now we contract with 40 home-based providers in Lowell, but over the years we have helped about 150 centers start," said Moeller, who recently gave birth to her third son, Mark William Cohen, two weeks ago. "What we have developed is a 'welfare to workfare' strategy that really works."
Last month, at a black-tie awards benefit at The Plaza Hotel in New York City, Moeller was recognized for her work by being awarded the Gloria Steinem Award: A National Salute to Women of Vision.
The award was presented by the Ms. Foundation for Women, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1972 that provides economic development assistance and funding for women-oriented community initiatives. The foundation has funded Acre Family over the past five years through two, three-year grants totaling $300,000.
Moeller was also recognized during a visit by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to Lowell during a forum on family and women's issues held last month.
Acre Family provides 240 hours of classroom instruction in child care services to enable providers to receive state licenses to operate day-care centers at their homes. Under state licenses, providers may care for up to six children. Should a provider hire an assistant, the licenses enable a provider to care for 10 children. The average income of the licensed operators is $27,900 a year.
In addition to child care instruction, Acre Family provides economic development, business, and continuing education courses. It also acts as a clearing house for child care providers by coordinating state subsidies, referring students, handling billing and deciphering state law changes issues through the Office of Child Care Services.
Moeller, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell with a psychology degree, first became involved with the child care needs of the Acre in 1987 while working with the Coalition for a Better Acre. It was during a door-to-door survey that Moeller discovered that the Acre lacked a single licensed child care facility.
"We found at that time there was no child care in Acre whatsoever," she said. "And we also found out there was no child care in the city that catered to the immigrant population of Lowell. We found that people desperately wanted to work but because there was a lack of child care people could not do that."
With the arrival of Acre Family that quickly changed as centers were first established for Latino and Cambodian families. Just two years ago Acre Family began teaching child care instruction in English to assist African-American families.
Over the past 12 years, Moeller said she has "just grown with the organization," having been embraced by Lowell's minority communities.
"People know when you are genuine and when you are not," said Moeller. "I went there with my heart on my sleeve and people responded to that."