[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 132 (Thursday, August 13, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING JESSIE MAHAN CHILD CARE CENTER'S LEGACY

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, August 13, 2026

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to note the end of a revered Memphis 
institution devoted to the education and well-being of my community's 
children. The Jessie Mahan Child Care Center, the first licensed Black 
child care center in Memphis, closed its doors for the final time on 
July 31 after serving generations of children and families for 68 
years. The Mahan Center served the Memphis community from the Dixie 
Homes housing development beginning on November 28, 1958, and relocated 
to its current facility at 70 North Bellevue in 2007, always providing 
early childhood education and learning experiences for children aged 
six weeks to 12 years old. It also served as a training site for future 
teachers and childcare professionals. Through its partnerships with 
Memphis City Schools and Head Start, the center played an important 
role in strengthening early childhood education in our community. Named 
for lifelong Memphian Jessie Hoyt Mahan, a well-known social worker and 
child advocate who passed in August of 1957 at the age of 62, it has 
served as a tribute to her memory as the director of the Information 
Bureau of the Health and Welfare Planning Council of Memphis and Shelby 
County and its Family and Child Welfare Division and service at 
Juvenile Court. I commend the leadership of the Jessie Mahan Child Care 
Center for its dedication to our community's children.

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