A new daycare center opened Monday in Hermitage with the help of an almost $300,000 grant through the Department of Community and Economic Development.

"We could have opened the center without the grant, but now the pressure is off a little bit because it's covering a large portion of our first year operating costs," said Frank Reabe, CEO of Bradford Child Care Services in Pittsburgh which operates the new TenderCare Learning Center on North Hermitage Road.

The center, which is the 31st for the company, provides developmentally appropriate programs for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years, Reabe said. "We're not just concerned about health and safety issues," he said.

"This takes the child care program a little further," said local TenderCare Director Margo Morford of Sharon. "A learning center to me can develop a child so much more than a pre-school. We assess each child individually then fit the program to meet their needs."

Mrs. Morford, who worked for 12 years at the Community Child Care Center in the First Presbyterian Church in Sharon, said she wasn't really looking for a new job, but appreciated the learning opportunity the center would give to children.

"We let the child take the lead in their development instead of conforming them to a program," she said. "There's also so much more you can do with children at a younger age to encourage their learning skills."

Reabe claims his agency's emphasis on each center's eventual accreditation through the National Association for the Education of the Young Child is what makes TenderCare Learning Center special.

"All centers are required to be state licensed, but not accredited through the NAEYC," he said. "We decided to take it one step further."

He described the difference between the state licensing requirements and the NAEYC criterion as "a half inch thick booklet to one that is several inches thick. The NAEYC also focuses more on teacher-child interaction."

Fifteen of the 31 centers are NAEYC accredited and the rest are in process. A center has to be open at least a year before they can apply for the accreditation.

"We just set up our centers along with NAEYC standards to make the process easier," Reabe said. "We made it clear in the grant proposal for the Hermitage center that it would be top of the line."

Just equipment and construction alone can cost between $150,000 and $200,000, he said, and the large grant also helped the agency pay toward the center director and primary caregivers salaries in the first year.

They are able to have up to 72 children in their local center, but would like to keep the numbers at 60 to keep the student-teacher ratio low, said Reabe. The center, which has three employees, includes a science station, a fenced-in outdoor playground with rubber flooring and a tricycle path.

"We're just so grateful to the state for allowing us to open this center for Mercer County," said Reabe, referring to the $271,170 grant. "It enables us to provide this county with the absolute best program that we have."

TenderCare also participates fully in all state subsidy programs, Reabe said.

The center will have its open house from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at 1475 North Hermitage Road. There will be refreshments, a visit from TenderTeddy and state and city officials.