Anna House

The Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA) has kicked off its annual `Think Big for the BCCA' fundraising campaign, designed to increase awareness and raise critical funds to operate Belmont Park's Anna House and Saratoga's Faith House. The mission of the BCCA is to provide a safe, supportive, and academically inspiring environment for the children of parents working in the Thoroughbred racing backstretch area located at New York's Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack, and Saratoga Race Course. They are committed to promoting early childhood education, molding young minds, and encouraging the fulfillment...

Centennial Farms' Donald V. Little, Jr. has been named president of the Belmont Child Care Association, Inc. (BCCA) Board of Directors, a position long held by Libby Imperio, who is stepping down, according to a release from the organization. Imperio's new role will be as immediate past president and advisor to the executive committee. Imperio has been a part of the BCCA board since 2009 and was named president in 2014. A vital part of BCCA and a champion of the backstretch community, she was responsible for several innovative means...

Prominent owner Michael Dubb, founder and chairman of the Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA) and member of the Board of Directors of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), has been recognized by the New York Islanders with the 2025 Charles B. Wang Community Service Award. The New York Islanders, a professional ice hockey team, honored Dubb at the UBS Arena at Belmont Park Thursday evening. In addition to the award, which recognizes leaders within the Metro New York community who have made a profound impact on the lives of individuals,...

The Belmont Child Care Association will hold its annual Racing for the Children dinner and auction--"BCCA Can Do!"--Aug. 24 in Saratoga. The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a cocktail reception at the Adelphi Hotel. Guests will then head to Universal Preservation Hall for the dinner and live auction. The event will feature emcee Andy Serling, and auctioneers, Maggie Wolfendale-Morley and Tom Morley. BCCA will recognize Stonestreet Farm owner Barbara Banke as its 2023 Honoree for her efforts in advancing the quality of life for the children and families...

The following is an open letter to the industry by Joanne K. Adams, Executive Director of the Belmont Child Care Association, Inc. (BCCA), a 501 c 3 organization. Our one-of-a-kind organization is changing lives at the racetrack every day as we continue to expand our programs to better serve our families. This year, BCCA launched BCCA Blooms: Nourishing Mind · Nourishing Body · Nourishing Family to help further our mission. Our goal is to Be Transformative by changing the lives of our families through knowledge and by providing the proper...

Finding affordable quality day care is a struggle most working parents face, but for parents working on the backstretches of America's racetracks, the combination of low pay and early hours make it even more of a challenge. For years, too many backstretch parents were forced to leave their children in less-than-ideal situations or drive to work at 5 a.m. with their kids sleeping in the back of their car. But in the late 1990s, after talking to his good friend Jerry Bailey about the situation, Michael Dubb took matters into...

The Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA) celebrated the Anna House Class of 2022 graduation Tuesday at Belmont Park with 12 students from its early childhood education program for the children of backstretch workers based at Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course. The ceremony, attended by New York state and local elected officials and community leaders, marked the completion of the children's year-round pre-K program, where they were taught English, math, reading, gardening, art, nutrition and other topics in a STEAM-based curriculum. The students are now prepared to enter...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - With just minutes to spare before rain started falling Wednesday afternoon, the ceremonial ribbon cutting was completed to formally open Faith's House, the new child care center at Saratoga Race Course. The 4,500-square foot building is located across Union Avenue from the track next to what was long known as the Jockey Y and more recently as the Backstretch Recreation Center. It is named for the late mother of Michael Dubb, the Long Island developer, Thoroughbred owner and driving force behind the project of the Belmont...

by Michael Dubb. Editor's note: The following letter appeared in the March 28, 2021 print editions of the Saratogian and Troy Record, and is reprinted here with their permission. While the pandemic irrevocably changed each and every one of us, perhaps no one will be impacted more significantly in the long term than our children. Mental health and education experts are just starting to reckon with the fallout of this unprecedented "lost year", which resulted in remote learning and isolation from friends and extended family. Most experts agree, however, that...

A new childcare center serving families and children of the backstretch community at Saratoga Race Course is scheduled to open in summer 2021, the Belmont Child Care Association, Inc. (BCCA) has announced. The 4,300-square-foot childcare center will be located on the Oklahoma side of the Saratoga backstretch. Funded by Michael and Lee Dubb, the facility will be named Faith's House in honor of Faith Dubb, mother of BCCA founder and board chairman Michael Dubb. Faith's House will provide child care and early education programs for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children....

The Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA) is set to reopen its Belmont Park daycare center Anna House June 22 with strict new safety protocols in place. The childcare and early-childhood education facility designed for the families of backstretch workers, most of whom are based at Belmont Park, has been closed since Mar. 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers and staff at the facility are currently undergoing training on the new protocols, which will utilize the health guidance established by the New York State Department of Health, the U.S. Centers...

The Board of Directors and staff of the Belmont Child Care Association, Inc. sent out the following message Friday: "With the doors of Anna House closed, and upcoming events postponed, the BCCA staff is working remotely as we continue to be true to our mission to serve the children and the families of the backstretch. While all of these measures are necessary, they do come with financial consequences for our organization as we have a large overhead which must be maintained during this closure. We are monitoring the situation closely...