100 Years at Broadway

YEARS AT BROADWAY

Healing through connection

FROM THE BEGINNING

Our story begins in 1909, when Reverend Mark Matthews founded the Seattle Day Nursery. Initially operated out of a church basement, the nursery provided a safe space for the children of working mothers—women who in many instances had few resources and who faced considerable social stigma as they tried to provide for their families. Our care was nonjudgmental and cost whatever the family could afford. The nursery was the first of its kind on the West Coast.

In the 1960s, we began shifting our focus. Children in our community at that time needed more than care—they needed education and new opportunities. Head Start, an early learning program for children from low-income families, was founded in 1965. Seattle Day Nursery helped introduce the program in Washington state.

FROM THE

In 1973, our board hired Pat Gogerty as executive director. A victim of trauma, abuse, and neglect himself, Gogerty was a passionate advocate for the health and well-being of children, and he believed our organization could and should do more.

With the help of experts and researchers across the country, Gogerty began to re-envision our model with science-based best practices. In 1977, we launched a trailblazing therapeutic day care program. Gogerty stepped down as CEO of Childhaven in 1998, but in 2010, at our 100-year celebration, Pat said, “Through the last 100 years, this agency has constantly adapted to meet the needs of the community.”

Today, our community needs us to adapt again!

As Dr. Jack Shonkoff, director of Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, says, “We must be constructively dissatisfied with the status quo.” In order to best serve our community, we must continue to listen to their specific needs, implement today’s best science, innovate, and partner in order to get better outcomes and eventually positively impact population-level health and wellbeing within the Puget Sound region.

“We must be constructively dissatisfied with the status quo.”

Dr. Jack Shonkoff

Because where we are matters

We find our identity and community in many things. Foremost of these is our location: the places where we live, learn, play . . . and work. As Childhaven, we have done our work in one special place for more than 100 years. That place has been known simply by its street name, “Broadway.” After 100 years, we are opening the door on our next century by saying yes to the bold vision for a continuum of care and a heartfelt farewell to Broadway.

For the past few years, Childhaven has responded to expanded community needs by adding essential evidencebased services to our continuum of care. While we have made great progress, and that work is ongoing and critical to helping us advance our mission and vision, it is insufficient. We recognize that even with significant direct service expansion we will fall far short of fulfilling community need and our vision unless we broaden our strategic approach.

Strategy is about making hard and purposeful choices.

Over the years, the location at Broadway, once convenient for families, became an urban core real estate asset well outside of most communities we serve. When we compared the needs across communities with the value of holding on to a real estate asset, we felt the weight and direction of a strategic decision. We realized that through the sale of our Broadway building, together with a re-imagined approach to services, we had a once-in-alifetime opportunity to scale our impact to previously unimagined levels. In short, we realized it was time to put our money where our mouth is in support of doing more to achieve better life outcomes for kids and families.

We embrace the responsibility that comes with this opportunity and will look to Childhaven’s 3-Year Strategic Impact

Plan as a guide for the investment of proceeds from this sale. Our plan includes investments that will:

The door to this new century opened July 1, 2022. Staff and services formally housed at Broadway have settled into our other existing locations, and we continue to search for new locations that better serve King and surrounding counties. All locations, current and future, are guided by our goal to bring care everywhere to the places kids and families live, learn, and play. Because where we are matters.

With sincere appreciation,

Strengthen direct services and infrastructure at the child and family level

Expand indirect services and partnerships at the community level Lead awareness, systems, and policy change at the population level

Jon Botten

100 YEARS AT BROADWAY

1909

Seattle Day Nursery founded

Agency founded as Seattle Day Nursery by the Reverend Mark Matthews of Seattle First Presbyterian Church. Seattle Day Nursery was one of the first 50 day care centers in the nation.

Seattle Day Nursery Association forms

The nonsectarian Seattle Day Nursery Association was formed at 302 Broadway in the Kenney home, now at 316 Broadway.

1921

Child care center built

Built new specially designed nursery at 302 Broadway in the Central District of Seattle. (Cost: $27,000.) Became charter member of Community Chest/United Way.

1925

Nursery locations expand in Seattle

Built Eastlake Nursery at 1320 Valley Street in Seattle and built nursery in West Seattle.

Board of trustees formed

The agency formed a 36-member all-volunteer governing board of trustees.

1959

Executive director hired to manage agency

With the help of United Way, the policymaking board of trustees established the position of executive director to manage the agency and carry out the policies of the board, ending 50 years of management by a volunteer board.

Two new programs developed

Childhaven helped organize the Model Cities Child Care Program and provided technical consultation during the development phase of both the Head Start and Model Cities Child Care programs.

Agency expands budget and workforce

Executive Director Emeritus Patrick L. Gogerty hired. The agency operated a budget of $362,000 with three sites and 32 employees.

Mobile services implemented

Began Mobile Resource Program to bring early education trainers and materials to day care homes and centers.

CHILDHAVEN VALUES

Childhaven values Teamwork Relationships come first.

Teamwork Relationships come first.

Equity There’s infinite value in every human.

Equity There’s infinite value in every.

Excellence Constructively dissatisfied with the status quo.

Excellence Constructively satisfied with the status.

Nationwide study participation

Began two-year participation in national day care staffing study. Two of Seattle Day Nursery’s centers were among 32 centers nationwide used in the study. Results provided information to Congress in response to staff/child ratio standards for the nation.

1977 New model program formed with top institutions

Started model Therapeutic Child Development Program to determine whether a day care center is the appropriate place to provide care and treatment for abused/neglected children. United Way, Child Protective Services, and Harborview Medical Center were collaborators.

1980Funding received for two-year study

Washington Legislature designated money to Childhaven for a two-year study of the effects of child abuse and neglect and early intervention.

Agency homes in on key focus area

Turned the “Latch Key” program over to East Madison YMCA and the City of Seattle. Childhaven concentrates focus on therapeutic child development.

1983

Study leads to legislature creating permanent service

Legislature created permanent service known as “therapeutic child care” after reviewing preliminary results of Childhaven’s research, which showed dramatic positive outcomes for abused children in the Therapeutic Child Development Program.

1985

Childhaven

Through the leadership of Pat Gogerty and the focus of its Therapeutic Child Development Program, Seattle Day Nursery changed its name to Childhaven.

1987

Opened Burien Branch

Childhaven opened the Eli Creekmore Memorial Branch in south Seattle near Burien. Named in remembrance of 4-year-old Eli Creekmore, this branch was dedicated and opened in December of 1987 and was made possible through generous donations totaling more than $1.4 million.

1989 1992

Crisis Nursery opens

Opened Crisis Nursery as a joint venture with Junior League, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to care for children when parents are in crisis.

Grant received for follow-up study

Received legislative grant to conduct 10-year follow-up of HB 1207 research project.

Auburn Branch opens

Opened the Patrick L. Gogerty Branch in Auburn. Dedication September 1992.

1998

Research published in reputable journal

Childhaven research from Therapeutic Child Development Program published in the February issue of Child Maltreatment, the official journal of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

2004

New Broadway Center facility completed Childhaven’s Broadway Center, located on First Hill, is completed thanks to generous donors of the Capital Campaign.

2009

100-year anniversary of organization

Childhaven celebrated its centennial.

CHILDHAVEN VALUES

Dedication Do more, do better.

Respect Meeting people where they are.

Reflection Feelings matter. Stepping back and exploring possibilities.

Harvard research study conducted

Childhaven selected to participate in Harvard Center for the Developing Child Frontiers of Innovation pilot research.

Initiated holistic approach

Childhaven began to build a Continuum of Care including Early Intervention, Early Learning, Outpatient Mental Health, Wraparound Services, and Capacity Building.

2020

RAYS and Art with Heart

join the Childhaven family

Since 1970, Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS) has provided high-quality, integrated behavioral healthcare and prevention services to children, youth, and families to restore hope for a healthier future.

Art with Heart’s therapeutic, creative-expression-based resources, training for adults, and programs help kids identify and work through their feelings, heal, and build social-emotional learning (SEL) skills.

We help kids build resiliency after trauma or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Our partners use our products, training, and services nationwide in schools, pediatric hospitals, after-school programs, national nonprofit camps, and community-based organizations.

Services shift from branch locations to community-based Childhaven shifts its focus from primarily providing services at branch locations to meeting families in their communities—places such as homes, hospitals, libraries, community centers, and more.

Broadway location sold to expand care

Childhaven closed the sale of Broadway on June 30, 2022, to provide care in more places where kids and families live, learn, and play. Staff and services formally housed at Broadway shifted to our other four branch locations— Auburn, Burien, Renton, and Skyway—and we continue to increase the number of visits we are providing in family homes and other community-based locations.

We’re honored to reflect on our history and the ways we have sought to serve the community.

We hold close to our hearts the memories and people who have passed through our doors.

All of you have played a pivotal role in achieving our first century of service while positioning us for even greater levels of service and support in the century to come.

Know that we are and remain eternally grateful.

TO THE NEXT 100 YEARS