The Montgomery County Youth In Need Early Learning Center will be closed for most of the summer to undergo renovations that will focus on improving the learning environment for children and families in the Montgomery County area.

The center, located at 908 S. Sturgeon in Montgomery City, is scheduled to reopen in early August with improvements that will include new flooring throughout the center, new paint, new countertops in all classrooms, roof repairs and new front door. Construction on the center began on May 5.

“This has been a wishlist item for a really long time to take care of our floors and painting of the building,” center manager Casey Henry said. “But back in the fall, we purchased the building. When we purchased it, we had some overage that was rolled into that and was able to pay for the construction that we’re doing. It’s been a few years that we talked about the floors and the paint, but now we’re just able to financially do it.”

Henry said after construction plans were made, there were some community members concerned that the center was going to close due to funding cuts. The center will remain open after construction.

“There has been some stuff in the media about Head Start funding,” Henry said. “Right now, we’re holding steady with it. There has been a lot of advocacy going on to save Head Start funding.”

The Head Start students spent their last day at the center on April 24. Even though the center is closed for the summer, staff members will continue to work with the children.

“For the summer, the regular teachers are visiting the homes and providing home visitation services, so they’ll try to go once a week for 90 minutes and provide activities and focus on each child individually,” Henry said.

Roof repairs will be handled by Bridgeway Construction in Columbia. Executive Construction in Chesterfield will work on the interior construction.

Facilities director Loren Babb said the construction project will cost $327,000.

“We’re redoing the roof as well,” Babb said. “So we’re sealing the roof and we’re repairing the sealing with 100 percent silicone on the roof, which will have a 10-year life span. We didn’t have the funding to asphalt or pave the front of the lot, but we’re going to bring in quite a few tons of rock to take care and fill potholes, getting it drivable and safe.”

The center will include a teacher lounge, five office spaces for managers and a therapist to work out of, a preschool classroom for children ages 3-5, an Early Head Start classroom, a storage room with extra supplies and a gross motor room.

In December, the center received a $10,000 donation from Faye Edwards in honor of her late sister, Peggy Jean Ritschard. That money will be used to build the gross motor room, which will be named after Ritschard.

Henry said community residents are pleased that the center is doing renovations.

“It’s just a change when they rely on us for care of their child during the day,” the center manager said. “It’s a shift, but overall, we heard some really good feedback. We think the environment is going to improve for years to come.”

Henry said the center will have a tentative open house scheduled for Aug. 6. Residents can visit the center’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MOCOYOUTHINNEED to keep track of the renovations.

Also, Youth In Need scheduled an event of art activities from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. on May 27 at Wabash Park in Montgomery City. Participants are encouraged to wear clothes that can get messy.