ALBURGH, Vt. (WCAX) – Efforts are underway to fill the child care gap in rural parts of Vermont. The Alburgh Family Clubhouse is a project several years in the making that community members say will help ease the burden on parents in the area.
Property behind the Alburgh Welcome Center is slated to be the building site for the Family Clubhouse, but there are still financial hurdles that remain before any groundbreaking.
Sophia Rheaume-Laplant spends many of her days with her three children at the Alburgh Public Library, one of the few community-centered kids spaces in the area. “If I had the access for child care, I would totally do it,” Rheaume-Laplant said.
She moved to the area in February and used to have her kids in a Head Start program. But since the move, she’s had to take care of her kids full-time. Other than one home-registered child care, there aren’t any alternatives. It’s a common problem among smaller and rural areas across the state.
“It’s a huge need because we’re so far away from everything. You know, people have to travel to go to work and there’s no place for their children to go,” said Gina Lewis, president of the Alburgh Family Clubhouse, which could fill part of that need. The facility has been in the works for eight years and plans to bring child care and social services to families with kids up to eighth grade.
“Would be a big boost to employment in our town if we had good day care to take care of all these children,” said Loretta Knight, the group’s vice president.
They have raised over $2.7 million through community efforts and state and federal grants. “We’ve gotten quite a bit of funding from the state and state-affiliated programs that are really looking to help close that gap in child care accessibility in rural Vermont,” said the group’s Alex McCracken:
Officials with the Vermont Department for Children and Families say money for this project, specifically, came from federal COVID money and the American Rescue Plan. They say money coming from Act 76, the 2023 law to expand eligibility for child care financial assistance, means parents can afford the programs, which in turn helps boost services themselves.
“The fact that the child care financial assistance is so much more generous than it was in the past, that there are some additional incentives coming for quality and capacity from the state. When they start to do that initial business plan, they’re seeing that it’s much more viable option for them and for their family than they did in the past,” said DCF’s Janet McLaughlin.
The Alburgh Family Clubhouse hopes to reach its $3 million goal by November so that they can break ground.