Nearly $2 million in funding will be poured into three local child care facilities to help alleviate the growing child care desert in Whatcom County.
The Washington State Department of Commerce and the Department of Children, Youth and Families provided more than $43 million to 69 early learning facilities statewide. The grant was specifically for facilities with Early Childhood Education and Assistance and Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) subsidies to expand, construct or purchase existing buildings.
Lil’ Sprouts Child Care Center in Blaine received nearly $300,000. They will be able to double their current capacity for child care from 23 to more than 50. They plan to construct a new, modern building at their location off of Peace Portal Drive.
After several years of trying for a grant, owner Jason Polverari said the facility staff is excited to expand and provide more high-quality child care.
“The advantages of a modern building will help all aspects of teaching kids,” Polverari said.
Lil’ Sprouts already has the plans for the building drawn, and now, will go through the process of permitting and building the additional space. Owners hope to open the expansion in fall of 2023 and plan to provide additional slots for families who qualify for subsidies from WCCC.
With $1 million from the grant, the Boys and Girls Club of Whatcom County plans to officially buy and continue the operations of Kids’ World Frontiers in Bellingham, CEO Heather Powell said.
The club has leased and operated the four Kids’ World locations from the former owner since March 1, 2020. Earlier this year, the Club bought the Ferndale location and will use the funding from the grant to help buy the Yew Street location. They hope to purchase the building by May 31 and still need to raise an additional $300,000 to meet the $1.8 million purchase price. The Club intends to eventually buy the other two locations.
Child care businesses do not make much profit in general, so the Club wants to fully buy the businesses to reduce monthly costs and improve programs.
“Every expense that we can eliminate associated with overhead or every expense that we can be really smart about means that we are able to, first of all, be a sustainable operating business, as well as reinvest in programs and our staff,” Powell said.
Kids’ World Frontiers has been closed and under renovation. The Club hopes to reopen June 1 and requested 136 slots in its new license — several dozen more than the capacity before the renovation. The Club will add additional spots for infants, preschoolers and school-aged children 12 and under; it has no limit on how many of the families are subsidized.
With its $636,500, the Opportunity Council will fund a new child care facility slotted for Laurel and Forest streets in Bellingham.
Sections of Whatcom County are qualified as child care deserts, according to a September 2019 Opportunity Council report. At that time, approximately 8,000 children under the age of 5 had two parents who work full-time with only 3,608 licensed child care slots available.
The grants to increase the number of slots are part of a statewide effort to support families and boost the economy.
“This investment in facilities in our state will help communities ensure safe, secure and stable early learning opportunities are accessible for everyone,” Commerce Director Lisa Brown said in a press release. “This is critical for an equitable recovery for the state’s economy and families, and is vital to helping ensure that children succeed.”
