Nonprofit to open expand child development center on East Side to help underprivileged families

SAN ANTONIO – In less than a year, the Healy-Murphy Center, a nonprofit that helps underprivileged families, will be opening the doors to an expanded child development center on the East Side.

Siri Lindholm, director of development, gave KSAT a quick glance of the Carousel Shop lot on the corner of Chestnut and Nolan streets that will be turned into classrooms for about 140 kids.

“This side of town is really in need of high quality day care. That’s what spurred us to create a new child development center,” she said.

The current center on the corner of Nolan and Live Oak streets was repurposed to become a day care, but it has run its course.

The $5.3 million project will result in a state-of-the-art learning facility for young students and student teachers, she said. The project has been in the works since 2015.  

“We’ve been dreaming about it for a long time,” she said. “We really want it to be a teaching and learning space for the whole community. We want to raise the bar of how we serve our neediest kids."

The center will have one main entrance, making it safer for students and for parents dropping off their children. 

On Tuesday, officials for the Healy-Murphy center will go before the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone board to ask the city for $300,000 in tax funds to help improve the exterior of the new facility, including wider sidewalks and lighting.

Construction is expected to take about 10 to 11 months.


About the Author:

Patty Santos joined the KSAT 12 News team in July 2017. She has a proven track record of reporting on hard-hitting news that affects the community.