PORT TOWNSEND —Details of a collaborative effort to build an early learning and family support center on the Port Townsend High School campus were presented, and input about the project was received, at a community meeting this week.
Wednesday’s information session at the Jefferson County YMCA was put on by the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, Jefferson Healthcare and the Port Townsend School District.
The project — a collaboration among those three organizations in addition to Jefferson County, the City of Port Townsend and Peninsula College — would provide about 30 families and 40 children ages 6 weeks to 5 years-old with child care, as well as meal preparation and delivery to 100 families; and support services to more than 250 families.
“There has been a child care desert in Jefferson County for many years,” YMCA CEO Wendy Bart said. “We can’t have an economic recovery when people don’t have a place for their children.”
The Port Townsend School Board at its next meeting on Thursday will consider giving Superintendent Linda Rosenbury the authority to execute a lease between the district and the YMCA for the property for the purpose of building the early learning and family support center.
The single-story, 4,000-square-foot building has a budget of $2.5 million, of which about $1.798 million has been raised so far.
Funding comes through a variety of sources including monies from the 2023 U.S. Senate appropriations bill ($1.375 million with a $1.12 million required match); Jefferson County ($318,000); Jefferson Healthcare ($50,000); and the Washington State Department of Commerce ($55,000).
The anticipated completion date is the second quarter of 2024, Bart said. studioSTL of Port Townsend is handling the design.
Jefferson Healthcare had been seeking a solution to its staff’s child care needs since at least 2015, said Molly Parker, a primary care physician.
A needs assessment led by Jefferson Healthcare and Peninsula College released in April 2021 investigated and offered solutions for the shortage of child care in Jefferson County.
“As a hospital, we know how to do healthcare, but we don’t know how to do child care, so we made sure to partner with those who did,” Parker said.
The YMCA would operate the center, which would have nine full-time employees and offer subsidized child care to at least 30 percent of families. Other families would pay the full rate, which has not yet been determined, Bart said.
The center would serve three primary functions, Bart said: provide high-quality child care for children up to 5 years old; furnish a commercial kitchen to produce meals for children and families, particularly when school is not in session; and offer the services of a family navigator to assist families in finding and accessing resources, from medical care to food support.
After presentations by Parker, Bart and Simon Little of studioSTL, attendees divided into three groups to consider the project: parent perspective; community benefits; and neighborhood needs, wants and wishes.
Feedback
Among the feedback from the groups were suggestions to expand services the center would provide beyond child care and to install a laundry room for families to use. Concerns about security and increased traffic also were raised.
Michael Levine, who lived near the high school, said that he would prefer to see resources dedicated to a trade school rather than to construct a new building for child care on the high school campus.
“There are plenty of spaces around Port Townsend for child care facilities,” Levine said. “Don’t put it there.”
At least three residents of the neighborhood who attended the meeting did not want to see the center constructed on the high school property, citing an increase in traffic on streets already serving St. Mary Star of the Sea Church and the Port Townsend Library.
“There are small, narrow streets and 200 cars a day go through there,” Levine said. “We paid to put a speed bump there and it didn’t slow them down.”
Karen Mullen, who moved to Port Townsend full time about 3 1/2 years ago, said that she was seriously considering moving away because of a lack of child care.
“I would love this project and would love to see the neighbors work it out to come up with a solution,” Mullen said. “It could be a win-win for the community.”
________
Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at Paula.Hunt@soundpublishing.com
