State funding to help add childcare in Sedro-Woolley
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Skagit County has received $3 million from the state Department of Commerce and state Department of Children, Youth and Families to add 92 licensed childcare spots in Sedro-Woolley.
The funding will be used for construction and development costs in partnership with the RJ Group, a real estate development company based in Bellingham.
The new Boys and Girls Club facility will be on the ground floor of the RJ Group's Batey Square building on Hodgin Street in Sedro-Woolley.
Batey Square will be a five-story mixed use building featuring a commercial ground floor and 135 apartment units on the upper four floors.
The childcare will be licensed through the Department of Children, Youth and Families, and will be for children up to 12. About three-quarters of its programming will be focused on early learning.
The Sedro-Woolley Boys and Girls Club operates on the Cascade Middle School Campus, where it serves children in grades K-12.
The Batey Square space will feature a commercial kitchen to serve hot meals to children, and a small indoor multipurpose room that will leads to outdoor play areas.
Expanding licensed childcare for families in Sedro-Woolley is filling a community need as Sedro-Woolley is lacking in childcare.
The new facility will be multilanguage, as multilanguage programming is an increasing community need.
Ron McHenry, Boys and Girls Clubs of Skagit County president and chief strategic executive officer, said the project fits into the Boys and Girls Clubs goal of responding to community needs, expanding licensed childcare spaces, increasing safe program space access, and increasing the number of nutritious meals that get out into the community.
McHenry said state representatives Sam Low and Karen Eslick, and state Sen. Keith Wagoner have been advocates for the Boys and Girls Clubs.
Low was a Boys and Girls Club member as a child and was the 1988 Washington State Youth of the Year.
The funding is part of $55.8 million from the state Department of Commerce and state Department of Children, Youth and Families. The funding will create 2,065 new childcare spots throughout the state.
Providers receiving the funds include local governments, school districts, at-home facilities and commercial properties.
"As a parent, I know how critical high-quality childcare and early learning opportunities are for working families in Washington," Gov. Bob Ferguson said in a news release.
In total, the Department of Commerce received 325 applications requesting a total of $277 million.
Awardees were chosen based on the number of early learning spots for kids from low-income families and their location relative to other early learning centers, among other factors.
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