CCS hosting first Summer Block Party

WASILLA — CCS Early Learning is starting a new summer tradition and the whole community is invited to celebrate with them during the first annual Summer Block Party Saturday at the Palmer Center.

“We’re excited about it. We just want to have an opportunity to get people in the community out doing something fun enjoying all kinds of fun stuff happening,” CCS Early Learning program director Tabatha Peterson said.

The Summer Block Party will feature a variety of yard games, family activities, an inflatable bounce house, a tricycle course, free food, and door prizes. There will be a number of booths including an educational fire safety station.

Peterson said there will be activities and prizes specific to different age groups. She noted that they will also be offering tours of the Palmer Center.

This new community outreach event is designed to be a carefree way for CCS staff to connect with local families and talk about their services, according to Peterson.

“Our mission statement is ‘play, laugh, learn, and grow.’ Really, what that is: is being able to experience and see the children and the families engage with the activities we’re able to offer, and see them grow as a family, and a lot of laughing and smiling and engagement with one another,” Peterson said.

CCS is currently enrolling at all their centers, including the new Palmer location, according to Peterson. She said they were unable to hold a grand opening for the new Palmer location due to the pandemic, so this is also a chance to celebrate the milestone with the public.

“One of the reasons we are hosting this is because due to COVID, we’ve been operating at limited capacity for children. So, we’re hoping to help build awareness in the community about CCS being in Palmer and being in the new facility,” Peterson said.

CCS currently operates out of four locations in Wasilla, Palmer, Chugiak, and Meadow Lakes. They offer a variety of age-specific learning programs such as Head Start (ages three to five) and Early Head Start (six weeks to age three), and Home Based Early Head Start (Prenatal to age three).

“We are trying to really just spread the word that we are offering services to all children prenatal through five years old. We really just want to work on getting our centers enrolled and being able to provide services to families,” Peterson said.

The CCS Summer Block Party runs from 12 to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 31. The CCS Early Learning Palmer Center is located at 905 West Auklet Avenue near Palmer High School. For more information, call 907-373-7000 or visit ccsalaska.org.

Parents can submit enrollment applications to CCS via email palmer.enroll@ccsalaska.org or on their website ccsalaska.org/enrollment. For employment applications, visit ccsalaska.org/employment.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com