The average cost of childcare in Rhode Island today is around $15,000 per year. For residents of Providence’s Manton Heights Housing Development—a public housing campus where the average annual income is $18,000—this presents parents a harrowing choice between putting groceries on the table, and finding somewhere for their children when they need time away from home.
What is to be done?
Today, the Providence Housing Authority (PHA) is partnering with the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, Amica Insurance, and Croton-on-Hudson, New York–based Arketekcher to build a new early learning development center that will service the 330-unit campus, built west of downtown Providence in 1953.
An existing 2-story building at 31 Salmon Street, the Manton Heights Extension, will be repurposed for the learning center. The hub will help fill a major childcare desert in the city, development partners shared.
The 4,000-square-foot learning facility’s ground floor will have three classrooms, and accommodate 42 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who live in public housing. On the second floor will be improved administrative offices, as well as an existing basketball court that will be refurbished. There will also be a 1,500-square-foot outdoor play area.
On August 7, shovels broke ground at a ribbon cutting ceremony to kick off the $4 million project, with Boston Celtics phenom Jayson Tatum, coach Joe Mazzulla, Arketekcher staffers, and city of Providence leadership in attendance.
Mazzulla grew up in Rhode Island, as did Madeline Clappin, a partner at Arketekcher. For Clappin, the project is “especially meaningful,” given how close to home it hits for the Rhode Island native. The design is informed by the “belief that every child deserves access to a beautiful, high-quality learning environment,” Clappin told AN.
“Designing a space for young children, especially in a public housing context, requires a deep sense of empathy and intention,” Clappin said. “We aimed to create a learning center that feels light-filled, warm, and welcoming, with flexible layouts that can evolve as the needs and ages of the children change.”
Arketekcher opted to make an existing retaining wall, an admittedly difficult site condition, into one of the site’s most distinctive features: a vibrant, polychromatic mural.
The interiors will be washed in natural light and air, and incorporate warm materials into the palette. There will also be a parquet-inspired floor pattern and shamrock details, as a nod to the Boston Celtics.
“This project is about providing quality and thoughtful design to a setting where it’s often absent,” Clappin added. “Collaborating with the Boston Celtics, Providence Housing Authority, and Amica on a project that prioritizes equity in early education has been both an honor and a responsibility we’re proud to carry.”
The learning center is expected to open in early 2026.
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