By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Great news today for the struggling childcare situation on the Olympic Peninsula. The Washington State Department of Commerce on Wednesday announced over $2 million in Child Care Partnership Grants to 18 organizations that will expand child care capacity in communities across the state.
In our area, grant recipients include the Olympic Peninsula YMCA and the Shore Metropolitan Park District, which operates the SPARKS program next to the Shore Aquatic Center.
The SPARKS Program will get $69,000 this year and another $55,000 next year, and Executive Director Steve Burke says this will be a gamechanger for the program and local parents. He says they’ve worked out an agreement with OMC to rent the building next door to expand their program.
“It would expand our current footprint for Sparks right now. We’reat about 80-85 kids, and we should be able to about double that with this new building. It’s about 8,000 square feet, and will also be able to provide all-day preschool care, as well. So, we’ll be expanding our current program and adding a new preschool program. That’s an all-day program.”
Burke says he hopes to be able to offer the new services by the start of next school year.
The lack of affordable, high-quality childcare affects virtually every community in Washington. Across the state, 63% of children live in areas with inadequate child care, which reduces the state workforce by around 133,000 people, according to a report from the Child Care Collaborative Task Force.
As for Olympic Peninsula YMCA, they’ve been awarded $68,000 for this year and another $62,000 for next year.
CEO Wendy Bart says the money will be used expand their programs in Port Townsend and here in Port Angeles, where they plan to build a whole new facility.
“In Port Angeles, we are looking at breaking ground on a new facility in the spring of 2024, and opening a new Early Learning Center in the second quarter of 2025. That will serve 96 children. But one of the things were focused on, it’s one thing to increase the availability, but we need to have the work force.”
Bart says she intends to develop that workforce using additional funds she received from the Dept. of Commerce and using it in conjunction with Peninsula College and other programs to support people who would like to break into the industry by helping them with tuition and other support methods.