FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 1, 2013
Imua Family Services Announces Ground Breaking Ceremony
The next step. Forward.
Wailuku, Hawaii – Maui,
Imua Family Services is set to break ground on the Imua Family Services Early Childhood Training and Development Center on Tuesday, November 19th at 10:00am. The new state-of-the-art facility is located on Wakea Ave. next to Easter Seals Hawaii Maui campus and will serve children with special needs, developmental delays, and disabilities. While we are still actively engaged in our Capital Campaign to raise $1.9 M to complete our build-out, there have been significant strides that have enabled us to begin the process. This includes: $200K in support from County of Maui, $975K in State Grant-In-Aid for Easter Seals Hawaii and Imua combined, $150K from the Will Smith Foundation in a naming opportunity for Will Smith, $50K from the Bendon Family Foundation, $25K from the First Hawaiian Bank, $10K from the Emerald Club Realty, and ongoing generous donations from individuals, and businesses.
This Ground Breaking Ceremony will commence the official start of construction. Guests in attendance will include Mayor Alan Arakawa, IFS Board Members and staff, Easter Seals Hawaii representatives and our community. The combined resources will make this a landmark campus for both Maui and the State of Hawaii, changing hundreds of thousands of lives for many years to come.
For over 35 years, Imua Family Services has been headquartered in the J. Walter Cameron Center, a “one-stop” community service facility located in Wailuku, providing office and program space to non-profit health and social service agencies on Maui. As the level of programs and services provided by Imua have expanded, so has its need for a larger space. Currently IFS occupies approximately 8,550 square feet enabling Imua to maintain a high level of service to our present client base, however as the number of children and families continues to increase, the limitations of the leased space at the Cameron Center have become increasingly apparent.
In the course of establishing a strategic plan to address the current and future facility needs of the agency, Imua Family Services has been presented with an opportunity to expand on a longstanding partnership with Easter Seals Hawaii through a collaborative project that will result in a new, state-of-the-art facility for Imua Family Services adjacent to Easter Seal Hawaii’s new space on Wakea Avenue in Kahului.
The center’s design plans call for a two-story building with staff offices on the second floor and a variety of specially designed program spaces on the ground floor. Specifically, the ground floor level will include:
- Three state-of-the-art therapy rooms with observation windows (one with specialized sensory equipment)
- A multi-purpose classroom for special needs individuals
- A Parent and Toddler Group Therapy Center
- A model Inclusion Preschool including Early Childhood Development Program
- A large, multipurpose conference room and classroom with attached service kitchen for trainings, conferences, and meetings
- A Child-friendly reception area, waiting rooms, ADA compliant bathrooms and elevators
- An Outdoor ADA compliant covered child care playground area
The development project will involve the partial demolition of an existing two-story building formerly used as a dormitory for seasonal workers by Maui Land & Pineapple. Utilizing the existing foundation and structural support systems has helped to keep costs down and significantly reduces the amount of time required for pre-development and eventually the completion of construction. The total estimated cost of the project is $1,915,000. It is projected that once all funding is in place, the construction can be completed and the facility ready for occupancy in 3 – 6 months.
Imua Family Services’ core programs include the following: Infant Child Development Program which provides early intervention services to over 500 children, birth to age 3, annually; Newborn Hearing Screening which provides hearing screening to all infants born at Maui Memorial Hospital (approximately 1,800 infants per year); Early Childhood Developmental Program providing therapeutic developmental services to children ages 3 – 5 who do not reach age-appropriate milestones (100 children anually); and Camp Imua which provides a week-long recreational camping experience for over 50 school-age special needs children, with participation from over 200 volunteers from the community. Each year these programs help meet the developmental needs of over 3,000 Maui children, provide support and assistance to their families, and help maximize each child’s and family’s potential in society. With over 65 years of service provision on Maui and Lanai, Imua Family Services has a strong reputation in the community as a provider of high quality, comprehensive services that result in improved life outcomes for children and their families.
For more information, please visit our website at www.imuafamilyservices.org or call 244-7467.