Child Services Association gets grant for classrooms, playground

Nov. 01--WENATCHEE -- An $800,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce will go toward expanding and upgrading the Chelan-Douglas Child Services Association's main center in Wenatchee.

Executive Director Christy Walt said the association is adding modular classrooms to the Kittitas Street facility and buying playground equipment.

Planning will start in the next two weeks, she said, and the classrooms should be occupied by mid-June. The playground equipment should also be installed in June.

"It's been about 20 years since we put anything new on our playground," she said. "A lot of our playground equipment is wood structures that we've built, and they have to be sanded, stained and varnished every year. This is going to allow us not only to provide some amazing play structures for the kids, but it will help with maintenance."

The association is losing its center on Malaga Avenue because the lease expires at the end of June and someone else is buying the building. The 36 children that site serves will be relocated to the main facility.

The organization also has centers in East Wenatchee, Cashmere and Peshastin.

This grant is part of about $5.5 million Commerce recently awarded to state-licensed early-learning providers throughout the state. The Department of Children, Youth and Families helped lead the application process.

"High-quality early learning can't happen if programs don't have great classrooms," Ross Hunter, secretary of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, said in a news release. "I'm pleased that these grants will help over 850 more children be ready for kindergarten and protect slots for another 136 from disappearing. This is a great first step toward solving a capacity shortage."

Walt said the Chelan-Douglas Child Services Association serves about 500 children each year between its Early Head Start, Head Start, Early Childhood Education and Assistance, private child care and summer school programs. Most of the children are 5 years and under, but the summer school program is for ages 6-12.

Much of the organization's financial support comes from donations, Walt said. Reserves and a $250,000 loan from Washington Trust Bank will also help with the project.

"Within a state- and federally funded system, it's a fixed budget. So, there's very little money available to go out and purchase facilities or add onto current facilities," Walt said. "If we didn't have ... these grant funds, we wouldn't be able to build like this. ... Our goal is to be the bar that other programs like ours are measured against. This is an amazing opportunity to be able to not only continue to serve the low-income children in our valley, but expand to serve additional children."

Reach Bridget Mire at 509-665-1179 or (javascript required to see email). Follow Bridget on Twitter at @bridget_mire.

___

(c)2018 The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.)

Visit The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.) at www.wenatcheeworld.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.