Project Most In East Hampton Expands Its Offerings

Project Most, which has provided after-school enrichment programs for children in the East Hampton and Springs school districts for nearly two decades, has expanded its offerings to include a full and half day on Saturdays.

The nonprofit is partnering with the East Hampton Neighborhood House for the new Saturday programs. In addition, the Neighborhood House will be the home for additional after-school programs offered by Project Most.

“We felt having our own space to develop our programs would be beneficial,” said Rebecca Morgan Taylor, Project Most’s executive director. “We wanted to develop more of a community center. We’ve had this dream for over a year now.”

In the past, Project Most has always run its after-school and summer programs at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton and the Springs School. The new venue means Project Most can open the new programs to children who do not live in the East Hampton and Springs school districts, Ms. Morgan Taylor said.

About a half dozen children showed up for the first session at the Neighborhood House on Saturday, but the director said she anticipates it will attract more children once word gets out.

To help on that end, a pair of open houses have been scheduled at the Neighborhood House. The first will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, January 30, and the second will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on the following Sunday, February 2.

The hours for the Saturday program, which is open to children in prekindergarten through fifth grade, are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will also be two half-day options, from 9 a.m. to 1 or 1 to 5 p.m. Fees for the Saturday program are $50 for the full day and $30 for the half day for children who are already enrolled in Project Most. The cost is $60 for the full day and $40 for the half day for children who are not enrolled.

“We are trying to keep it as affordable as possible,” Ms. Morgan Taylor said. “Parents don’t have to commit to every Saturday. Some might just use it as a drop-in basis.”

With the high cost of private day care or piecemeal arrangements in which children often must go to a friend or relative’s house after school, Ms. Morgan Taylor said, it was clear “the community needed more offerings. The schools might be closed, but the parents are still working, even on weekends.”

Having the new space at the Neighborhood House frees Project Most from the restrictions imposed on it by schools, which have limited space to share. “We have to pack up at the end of every day and leave the classroom,” she said, which makes it difficult to offer longer-term programs.

The Neighborhood House connection will allow Project Most to expand offerings in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, as well as drama, dance and cooking. In addition, Project Most will move its summer camp and vegetable garden to the Neighborhood House from the Springs School.