Creating a port in a child care storm

Aug. 26—COLFAX — Finding available child care is an ongoing struggle for parents nationwide, but Peace Lutheran Church hopes to ease some of that frustration in Colfax.

The church, which has a congregation of around 40 people, has about 5,000 square feet of largely unused space in its basement. It's looking to convert that into a licensed day care center that would serve roughly 40 kids ranging in age from infants to 5 years old.

Pastor Ian McMichael has been meeting with community and business groups for the past few months, letting them know about the project and trying to build support.

"This all came out of a conversation last January," McMichael said.

The church completed a capital campaign a couple of years ago. Some of the money was slated to hire a youth director, but that was put on hold once the COVID-19 pandemic began. Later, when they did advertise for the position, they didn't find anyone.

"So we had a meeting of the minds and asked what else we could do," said McMichael, who moved to the area three years ago. "That (capital campaign) money was supposed to help us grow the church. We also wanted to serve the community."

Child care pretty quickly rose to the top of the list, he said, and momentum has grown since then.

"This is the most supported initiative I've seen," said Whitney Bond, executive director of the Colfax Downtown Association, during a meeting with the Whitman County commissioners earlier this month.

Colfax is a wonderful community, Bond said, but the lack of housing and lack of child care are hurting growth.

"And housing isn't going to pop up until we have more child care," she said. "I think this would be an awesome thing to project Colfax into a brighter future."

The church asked the county to contribute $250,000 toward what it estimates is a $1.1 million project. The commissioners said they would take it under advisement, noting that it would be a qualified use for some of the federal coronavirus relief funds the county received.

"I don't know if we can come up with the money or not, but my heart is with this project," said Commissioner Michael Largent. "It's clear we need something. This is going to take a sustained community effort."

There's currently one child care facility in Colfax. McMichael said the Community Child Care Center takes children ages 3 to 5 who are potty trained. However, there's more demand than they can meet, and there's no services available for kids under 3.

The Community Child Care Center "actually helped us get our first grant," he said.

That money, from the Washington Department of Commerce, was used to hire an architect. She looked at the warren of rooms in the church basement and provided some conceptual drawings for how it could used.

The project will likely be built in three phases, McMichael said. The first phase will install an overhead sprinkler system, at a cost of about $60,000.

The second phase would provide a couple of classrooms, as well as a kitchen and some storage and office space. It has a projected cost of about $700,000, after which the facility could start accepting kids.

The third phase would provide additional classroom, storage and office space, at a cost of about $250,000.

McMichael said people are shocked at how much it costs to open a business that will likely have very slim margins, but there are a huge number of regulations governing child care facilities.

"The manual is 450 pages," he said. "The cribs have to be so far apart. You have to have a certain kind of garbage can. You need an evacuation route and certain kinds of toys — and if you want to be certified at a higher level, you need very specific toys — and there are ratios for how many toilets per child."

The state also requires 35 square feet of space for each infant, he said, as well as 75 square feet of outdoor playground space. That's the main limitation on how many kids the facility can to serve, as opposed to parental demand.

"But I'm all for keeping kids safe," McMichael said about the regulations. "We want to be licensed and provide quality service."

McMichael is quite familiar with the expense and time demands child care service puts on families — he and his wife live in Endicott, and every day one of them drives their kids to day care in Pullman.

"This is a much broader issue than just child care," he said. "It's a mental health issue for parents. If they can't send their kids to day care, they can't work, so there may be financial problems. And it's so expensive for kids age zero to 2. Child care is the infrastructure that supports other infrastructure. No community can do anything if there isn't someone available to watch the kids."

McMichael noted that the Peace Lutheran Church congregation voted unanimously to support the project.

"It's been kind of fun, hitting the need right on the head," he said. "It has't been difficult to convince anyone."

Now all that's needed is the financial support.

Anyone interested in contributing to the project or learning more about it can contact the church at 509-397-2121.

Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.

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