Timeline

1961 - Responding to community need, St. David's Episcopal Church nursery school begins

1965 - With the philosophy of turning no child away, St. David's begins serving children with special needs

1980 - St. David's opens its first inclusive nursery school classroom, combining typical children with children with special needs

1981 - Due to long waiting lists for the small nursery school, St. David's expands to the Burwell Community Center across the street

1987 - Child Abuse Prevention is added to St. David's services

1988 - Family Place, a therapeutic preschool for at-risk children, begins with a grant from the McKnight Foundation

1989 - St. David's purchases the Burwell Community Center – its current site – and begins a successful $3.2 million capital campaign

1990 - St. David's is recognized as a United Way organization

1992 - St. David's Annual Parent Symposium is founded by John Overton and Ann Lowry

1993 - Steps Toward Early Effective Parenting (STEEP), a preventive, early intervention program for first-time mothers and their infants, is developed by Marti Erickson, Ph.D., of the Children, Youth & Family Consortium of the University of Minn. The program evolved into Healthy Families: An Infant Parent Development Program in 2008

1997 - St. David's Mara Bennett Therapy wing is opened as a result of a successful capital campaign

1999 - The Adventure Program, a summer day camp for youth with special needs, is started

1999 – St. David’s School Forest program – two-and-a-half acres of protected wetland marsh used as an outdoor classroom for environmental education – is certified by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

2000 - St. David's opens an Early Childhood Education program in Crystal

2002 - Angel House – a unique group home environment for adults with special needs – opens, introducing the St. David's family-and-service-provider collaborative approach

2004 - The St. David's Feeding Clinic for children with feeding disturbances is launched

2005 - MeMe's Playground, a state-of-the-art inclusive playground, officially opens its gates on the northern perimeter of St. David's Minnetonka grounds as a result of a successful fundraising campaign

2006 – The Autism Day Treatment (ADT) program welcomes its first class of students

2008 – Autism Support Services, an innovative care model through a partnership with Medica, becomes available to families with children on the autism spectrum

2009 – St. David’s Child Development & Family Services changes its name to St. David’s Center for Child & Family Development to reflect its position as a center of leadership. An updated brand identity, including the uplifting hands logo, is introduced.