Women's League Child Development Center

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Women's League Child Development Center

We are nationally-accredited, with a new STEAM Learning Lab! Our Center is a cherished and amazing place! Our Hartford roots are deep.

As a leader in early childhood education, we provide stimulating, high-quality learning experiences for infants, toddlers, and preschool children in a vibrant, safe, state-of-the-art building. Founded in 1917, the Women’s League Child Development Center is an outstanding, family-friendly early childhood learning center located in the City of Hartford’s North End at 1695 Main Street. In over a century of serving children and families, we’ve maintained an enduring commitment to excellence in early childhood education. Caring for children and their families are our traditions. At Women’s League, your children learn the social, emotional, and educational skills they need for successful entry into kindergarten—and beyond. We creatively expose children to science, technology, arts, engineering and math at early ages to give them a head start toward the careers of tomorrow. We respect children’s first teachers: parents. We actively involve and support families in raising successful children. Our dedicated, professional staff strives to continually develop their skills in order to provide the highest quality early learning experiences for children in our care. More than 250 infants and children ranging in age from three months to five years of age fill our classrooms every day with the joys of play and learning. Our state-of-the-art building houses 17 vibrant classrooms brimming with smiles, stimulating activities, and wonder. Outdoors, under the shade of trees, children enjoy safe playscapes and gardens. At Women’s League Child Development Center, all infant, toddler and preschool programs are offered in safe, stable environments that meet or exceed the learning expectations defined by the Office of Early Childhood-Early Learning and Development Standards. We also meet the quality standards set forth by the City of Hartford’s School Readiness Program. We are the largest nonprofit, single-site school readiness program in the City of Hartford.

09/18/2026

What an incredible honor for our executive director, Karen Lott!!

09/11/2026

We're so proud of our teachers! Fifteen of them are working on advanced degrees, thanks to tuition assistance from the Women’s League and Connecticut’s Office of Early Childhood.

Meet the teachers (including administrator Karen Clancy) who are currently pursuing degrees. Their commitment to learning and growing is inspiring— and we hope you’ll be as proud as we are of their dedication to become even better educators for the children they nurture each day at the Women’s League.

Photo 1 (L to R): Trecine Breedlove, Karen Clancy, Vanessa Wolfe, Iraida Huertas, Shelby Wolfe, Sahnique Castella, Shanicia Sampson, Octavia Velazquez

Photo 2 (L to R): Kimberly Henry, Kyara Torres, Melissa Vega, Narinee Rai, Beulah Wiggins, Veronica King.

Not pictured: Blaier Jenkins-Reid

09/09/2026

These AMAZING women (and many others) from the Epsilon Omicron Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. delivered nutritional 4,437 power packs to our children over nearly four years!

It's true! From November 2022 through June 2026, AKA members made sure our children were nurtured and healthy through “power packs” they delivered every Friday (and for extended holidays and summertime.) They even gave our children beautiful books!

Thank you to ALL the dedicated AKA members for their incredible volunteerism and care for our children! Special thanks to Carolyn Thomas for her leadership!

09/04/2026

We are THRILLED to be a recipient of a 2026 Love Your Block grant from Greater Hartford Gives! We will join forces again with the talented Micaela Levesque Art to create a beautiful mural on our south-facing wall!

09/01/2026

"It's so important to give little girls confidence, especially in the STEAM area." — Karen Lott, Executive Director, Women's League Child Development Center

Learn more at https://www.womensleaguecdc.org/park/

Video by Jordan Conover, Hartford Fence Co.

08/14/2026

Our children of all ages— infants, toddlers, and preschoolers —have loved learning through the gardens in our new STEAM Explorers Park. They’ve observed plants as they grow, touched and smelled fresh herbs and vegetables, harvested produce, and tasted some of the crops grown here. In these ways, they’ve connected with nature while building curiosity and learning where their food comes from.

Our Farmer-in-Residence, Travis Stewart of Farm With Me LLC- Urban Farming, has worked alongside our children and teachers to start our gardens from seeds. Through the gardens, our children are learning that food does simply come from a grocery store. They are experiencing the entire process firsthand — from planting seeds and caring for vegetables to harvesting and enjoying the fresh food they helped grow.

08/12/2026

Thank you, Jordan Conover, for this conversation and video featuring our executive director, Karen Lott.

Shifting the trajectory of a community doesn’t happen by changing behaviors later. It starts by building hope first. 🔹 Conditions create experiences. 🔹 Experiences create beliefs. 🔹 Beliefs create behavior. 🔹 Behavior repeated becomes culture. Karen Lott is leading the Women’s League...

07/21/2026

Click below to take a virtual tour of our new STEAM Explorers Park!

With big boost from our donors, we transformed underused spaces on our grounds into a vibrant, green, exploration-rich environment where children can investigate water, light, sound, gardening, building, art, and music in an outdoor setting designed specifically for early learners.

The Park includes three sections, viewable in the video: The main STEAM Explorers Park area with art panels, mud kitchens, and a discovery cave, the Toddler Park Area, and the Eco Garden. A newly painted tricycle park area is also shown alongside the new greenhouse. A gorgeous, large-scale mural by Hartford-area muralist, Micaela Levesque Art, is the beautiful backdrop to the Park.

Video by J. Koteen Photography

In July 2026, the Women's League Child Development Center in Hartford, Connecticut opened its new STEAM Explorers Park, an innovative outdoor discovery space designed to give infants, toddlers, and preschoolers hands-on learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math throu...

07/20/2026

Our teachers and children were thrilled to host Office of Governor Ned Lamont, Speaker Matt Ritter, Office of Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, and State Senator John Fonfara last Friday as they announced more investments in Connecticut's Early Childhood Education Endowment. The leaders aim to address the rising costs and limited availability of high quality early education, as well as challenges in workforce retention in the child care industry.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Over $700 million is now invested in the Connecticut Early Childhood Education Endowment, and state leaders highlighted the historic milestone Friday in Hartford. On June 3…

07/17/2026

An unforgettable day in the life of the Women's League! We celebrated the opening of our STEAM Explorers Park on July 8, 2026 with our donors, community partners, teachers and children.

Speakers included Women's League Executive Director Karen Lott, parent and early childhood educator Keisha Evans, farmer-in-residence at the Women's League and founder of Farm With Me LLC- Urban Farming, Travis Stewart, and Pratt & Whitney mechanical engineer, Victoria Pinkett.

Learn more about the Park at https://www.womensleaguecdc.org/park/

Park mural by Micaela Levesque Art and photos by Steven Laschever

Address

1695 Main Street
Hartford, CT
06120

Telephone

+18605245969

Website

http://www.womensleaguecdc.org/

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