It may be the most valuable package ever delivered by Mr. McFeely's Speedy Delivery: a $5 million grant from Harrisburg to help build the $12 million Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at Saint Vincent College.

State Sen. Allen Kukovich, D-Manor, opened the letter at a news conference yesterday at the Latrobe campus, and announced to gathered officials and preschoolers that construction may start at the new center as early as spring.

The money comes from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, a fund for buying and constructing regional improvement projects. Matching private grants and donations will make up the balance, said Saint Vincent President James F. Will.

Fred Rogers, known to children throughout the world for his gentle "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" television persona, was a Latrobe native. For three years before he died in February 2003 he planned with college officials to carry on his work with a national center where early childhood development and media could be studied and developed.

"Over the long term, the center's collaborations with other key organizations ... will have an impact on school readiness, literacy, productivity and citizenship," Will said.

The Rogers Center will include a multimedia center, archives and an early learning demonstration center, as well as space for large workshops, conferences and meetings. The center's mission is to "advance the state of early learning and children's media by acting as a catalyst for communication, collaboration and creative change across both fields."

Almost 70 experts from state and national child development and media groups converged in May at Saint Vincent to set the agenda for the Rogers Center. These included the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the state Department of Education, the Children's Television Workshop and George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers take note: The group formed an advisory council and an action plan, which includes establishing the center as a "broker for change in response to emerging issues in children's media."

The group is planning a wide-reaching communication plan to advocate on behalf of children and families.

"Our plans ... are admittedly ambitious, in the best sense of the word," Will said. "Our ambition is inspired by Fred Rogers."