RANDOLPH — Despite increased costs and a longer timeline, a new child care center off Route 66 near Exit 4 on Interstate 89 is moving forward.

The White River Junction-based Green Mountain Economic Development Corp. took ownership on March 7 of the property, 1538 Vermont Route 66 in Randolph, which was formerly part of Vermont Technical College’s Enterprise Center. The project is a collaboration between GMEDC and the Tunbridge-based nonprofit Orange County Parent Child Center, which will operate the new facility.

The child care center, one of several Upper Valley efforts aimed at decreasing the care shortage, is worth pursuing in spite of challenges because of the value it is expected to bring to people in the Randolph area, said Erika Hoffman-Kiess, GMEDC’s executive director. Randolph currently lacks a year-round facility that provides care to children ages infant through preschool, except for a center run by Gifford Medical Center, which is full and geared to the hospital’s employees.

“Every employer is looking for workforce,” she said. “Every resident is feeling the impact. (We) don’t have the workers to provide the services that we all rely on.”

The timeline has shifted from what was previously expected to be a 2022 opening and the anticipated cost of the facility has risen to $5.5 million, up from about $3 million the organizations had predicted two years ago, according to Hoffman-Kiess.

Construction now is expected to begin in September and the groups are now aiming to open the new child care center, which is expected to have 88 spots, in the fall of 2024.

The building renovations are slated to include energy-efficient upgrades, a new heating and cooling system, windows, insulation, and a kitchen and laundry space, Hoffman-Kiess said.

The list of the project’s donors is long and includes the Northern Border Regional Commission, Let’s Grow Kids, the Couch Family Foundation, the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, a Community Development Block Grant and the Vermont Community Foundation, according to a GMEDC news release announcing the property purchase.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought increased attention to the child care shortage and new funding sources, but the new sources sometimes come with their own challenges, Hoffman-Kiess said.

“Nobody really knows how it works,” she said, later adding that it feels like “we’re designing the plane as we fly.”

But the need is clear. The center already has a waiting list of 12 children for the Randolph program, said Lindsey Trombley, executive director of the Orange County Parent Child Center.

She said she has “no worries in the world” the new center will “be fully enrolled, barring the staffing.”

She noted that OCPCC’s Tunbridge child care center is licensed for 59 spots, but currently only has 39 enrolled.

One of its four classrooms has been closed due to staffing challenges for the past two years, she said.

She said she had recently gone through the waiting list the Tunbridge center maintains for infants. Of the 20 on the list, she was only able to eliminate three. The others, who had signed up for the list in 2021, were all still waiting for care.

“My heart goes out to any parents looking for care right now,” she said.

Still, she said she is hopeful that the new center’s location near I-89 and downtown Randolph will help attract more workers. Additionally, the new center is expected to include a teaching model, in collaboration with the nearby technical center and Vermont Technical College, which is slated to become part of Vermont State University in July of this year. Those partnerships are still in flux, partly due to the new university’s formation, Hoffman-Kiess said.

This spring, Trombley is staying abreast of efforts in Montpelier to advance bills to increase the state’s investment in child care and in parent child centers this legislative session. Even if those don’t succeed, however, she said adding the new Randolph employees, expected to total 33, to the organization will make it big enough to begin offering health insurance for workers.

The groups plan to hold an open house in their new space once the weather warms.

Nonprofit center planned for Woodstock

In the meantime, another group in Woodstock also is planning to open a new child care center in response to needs for such care among community members, including the organizers’ own.

Caroline Olsen, who along with her husband, Craig, owns nutty life, a plant-based milk company in Woodstock, is working to open a new child care center in the Mill Building on Maxham Meadow Way, near the town’s water treatment plant and in the same building as nutty life.

The Mill School, a nonprofit, is slated to open later this year and have as many as 18 spots for children ages 6 weeks through 3 years, Olsen said.

The idea for the new center came when the Olsens lost care for two of their children last year, which left them scrambling to find someone to work in their home so they could continue to operate their business.

The loss of child care “put a toll on our family,” she said in a phone interview last week. “Scrambling for care is not fun.”

The Mill School plans to offer $20 an hour as starting pay for all teachers, which the group estimates is about $1 an hour more than other facilities in the area. Olsen said the nonprofit plans to collect donations to help families who qualify for state subsidies to pay for the additional cost.

“Something has to give in the system,” Olsen said of starting workers at $20 an hour. “It’s broken.”

Olsen said she already has a list of 40 names of those interested in spots at the new center. Two of four employees, including a director, have been hired and Olsen said she was interviewing for two more positions.

She said construction is expected to begin soon on the space, which was formerly an art gallery. The nonprofit has a bridge loan through the Vermont Community Loan Fund, she said.

The school is slated to open in June.

“We’re passionate about it,” Olsen said. “We want to make it work.”

Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.

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