Local professionals inspired by a need to serve the community recently spearheaded a new center to serve as one of the only environments in the state that combines care services in a multigenerational context.

The center is an expansion of Caring Hands and More, a business that began providing home-care services for the community 15 years ago. Founder Bruce Teague said its existing services span from professional cleaning to care for the elderly and adults with brain injuries or intellectual disabilities, and child care connected to the university.

“It takes a village to survive, and we’re part of that village,” Teague said.

Teague added that Caring Hands and More found the inspiration to create a care center that focuses on children as well as the elderly and adults in need of care after seeing similar facilities in Milwaukee.

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“As far as we knew [in 2017 when visiting Milwaukee], there was no other facility like this in Iowa,” Teague said. “We fell in love with the concept, fell in love with what they were doing, and wanted to bring a portion of that back to Iowa City.”

The program will provide opportunities to reduce isolation by fostering intergenerational socialization, said Megan McCannon, Caring Hands and More administrative director.

“With the elderly population in particular, they tend to be very isolated, and that can lead to depression and other problems,” McCannon said. “We really want to see them feel a connection to the community, as well as having that connection to children around and have lots of opportunities to interact with people from all walks of life.”

The center is in the process of getting its final permits secured for starting its adult and children’s services, Teague said.

McCannon said the adult services will open this month and the pre-school age side is anticipated to open the upcoming school year in July or August.

The demand for the adult-services side is significant before its opening, McCannon said, which will be able to have up to 55 participants at any given time. In comparison, she said the pre-school age care will have a capacity of 40 children ages 3 through 5.

The organization has a pile of referrals of people waiting for opening day of adult services, McCannon said, and the need for child care will likely gather even more attention.

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“We do know that there is a huge need for affordable day care, and so we are working with a lot of resources to figure out how we can make that possible for as many people as possible in our community,” Teague said.

Rodney Anderson, director at Caring Hands and More, said he envisions that the broader Iowa City community can embrace and use the space as their own.

The team members said they have years of experience of helping others and putting community first. Anderson has worked at nonprofits and a mentoring program, and said he sees Caring Hands and More as home.

“I bleed purple,” Anderson said, referencing the business’s dominant color. “We’re fighting to help our community … We’re going to put our money where our mouth is.”