Boston Council Hears Curtis Hall Pool Will Close for One Year Starting in June

BOSTON -- May 18, 2026, Boston's Ways and Means Committee scrutinized a level-funded $30.5 million FY27 BCYF budget while pressing officials on child care funding cuts and facility closures. Commissioner Marta Rivera told the panel that BCYF's 206,288 registered members logged nearly 900,000 visits in the last fiscal year, with youth aquatics enrollment up 20 percent and sports participation up 19 percent. The Office of Early Childhood will enter FY27 with an operational budget of $763,468, down roughly 34 percent from last year's $1,148,510, following the full exhaustion of approximately $17.5 million in ARPA funds, ending free degree attainment programs for family child care providers that had run through Bunker Hill Community College and Urban College of Boston. Analytics and Program Director Paula Gaviria Villarreal identified Charlestown, Allston-Brighton, and the Longwood-Fenway corridor as the city's deepest child care deserts, with infant care running $2,000 to $3,000 per month in private settings. Director of Operations Eddie McGuire confirmed that the Curtis Hall pool and locker rooms in Jamaica Plain will close for approximately one year starting in June for renovation, while the long-shuttered Hennigan pool was projected to reopen within two to three weeks pending an ISD inspection after required equipment arrived May 13.