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Portland, ME: Disabled children get $3M school renovation; "the need...is growing"

Aug 10, 2018, Maine Biz: Developers Collaborative completes $3M school rehab http://www.mainebiz.biz/article/20180810/NEWS01/180819993 Children's Odyssey, a program for children of varied developmental levels, will move into a newly renovated location at the former Thomas B. Reed School at 19 Libby St. in Portland this fall. Developers Collaborative, which led the $3 million renovation, along with the nonprofit, introduced the new site at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday. Co-Director Laura Glover told Mainebiz the plans are to reopen Children's Odyssey at Reed on Sept. 5…. Children's Odyssey started with 10 children and four teachers and is now up to 24 teachers, with 68 children enrolled in multiple programs. The new, 16,500-square-foot space will have capacity to expand to 150 students. Glover said they started looking for larger quarters about 10 years ago. "We had outgrown our space," she said. … "Our funding sources are from the state Department of Education and MaineCare, and with reimbursement rate freezes and budget cuts, it's always very tight," she said…. The need for Children's Odyssey's services is growing, said Glover. "It's challenging to find the financial means to grow, even though the need is there," she said. … The majority of children in Children's Odyssey's care demonstrate one or more educational or medical disabilities of varying degree and etiology to include but not limited to, autism, cerebral palsy, behavioral and emotional disorders, attention deficit disorder, hearing or visual impairment, Down syndrome, failure to thrive, feeding and swallowing disorders, chronic lung disease and seizure disorders. …

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