MOUNTAIN VILLAGE – Lily Mahoney won’t be old enough to attend one of the area’s preschools for another year-and-a-half. But she’s already been on their waitlists for nearly that long.
Lily’s parents, Jim and Lorrie, already worry that their jobs will suffer if they can’t secure childcare at least four days a week. These local parents aren’t alone; According to a daycare needs assessment conducted in 2008, the area’s carrying capacity for early child care (ages three months to five years) is 295 – which leaves more than 350 children still waiting to get into one of the area’s licensed child care facilities.
The Town of Mountain Village is working to lessen the region’s daycare shortage, one small preschool at a time. Mountain Village Town Council recently authorized the last piece of funding required to move forward with the interior construction of a preschool addition at Mountain Munchkins, an infant and toddler childcare facility located at Village Court Apartments. The 1,088-square-foot expansion will allow Mountain Munchkins to include preschool-aged children (ages 2 ½ to 5 years,) in the process increasing enrollment by 56 percent and taking 14 children off local preschool waitlists.
Mountain Village Mayor Bob Delves explains that the Town’s support of the Mountain Munchkins expansion aligns with the community’s ongoing commitment to providing the local workforce with affordable childcare. Currently, the Town of Mountain Village subsidizes Mountain Munchkins’ 21-capacity infant and toddler program with $180,000 annually. He says that while Mountain Village’s population includes a large number of part-time residents, the community is also home to 1,400 full-time residents; “The majority of these people have young families, live in deed-restricted housing and form the working/management backbone of our regional economy. These are exactly the people who need child care, and are the primary reason our Town Council has consistently supported subsidizing and expanding daycare at Mountain Munchkins.”
While Mountain Village will continue to subsidize Mountain Munchkins’ infant and toddler program, Munchkins Director Kathleen Merritt reports that the new preschool program is expected to break even.
“Mountain Village initially created Mountain Munchkins because nobody was providing infant care, and we had lots of Town employees who needed it. Infant care is very expensive due to the low teacher-to-student ratio required by the state,” Mayor Delves explains. “Kathleen Merritt came to us with a plan where we could significantly expand into the less expensive toddler care arena and use grant funding to pay for it, and lower our annual subsidy of the program. Our Town Council likes win/win/win propositions – especially when they advance solutions to a chronic social need.”
To date, Merritt has secured $127,500 in grant funding for the project, which will turn an adjoining apartment donated by the Mountain Village into the new preschool and create a new 1,536 square foot playground. So far, Mountain Munchkins has received grant funds from the Telluride Foundation, Boettcher Foundation, Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation, Just For Kids, Gates Family Foundation and the Goodall Foundation.
Construction of the new preschool will begin July 1.
In order to make the space ready for occupancy, Merritt estimates that another $58,000 is needed to furnish and outfit the preschool space and to complete the outdoor play area. Merritt, with the help of a group of parent volunteers, continues to submit grants to secure the remaining $58,000 needed to open the preschool by the target date of October 15, 2009.
For current Mountain Munchkins parent Peggy Raible, news that there will be more local preschool spots when her son Charlie turns three comes as a relief.
“As working parents, we needed infant childcare for our son Charlie – which seemingly limited his possibilities for getting into the other area preschools down the road,” she explains. “We are thrilled that the hard work and determination of Kathleen Merritt, and the tremendous support from the Town of Mountain Village, might enable Charlie to continue the quality care and education provided by the Munchkins program into a preschool level.”
As another means to raise the remaining money needed to complete the new preschool, Mountain Munchkins is hosting its second annual Touch-A-Truck fundraiser this Saturday, with all proceeds going towards furnishing and equipping the new preschool. The event gives kids, teens and adults the opportunity to get up close and personal with a fire engine, tractor and dump truck, just to name a few; touch, climb on, sit in the driver’s seat, or have your picture taken with your favorite service vehicle and work equipment. Admission to the event is $5 per person, and baked goods, juice and water will be available for purchase.
The event will be held at the Telluride Middle/High School parking lot June 27 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information regarding the Touch-A-Truck fundraiser or Mountain
Munchkins Daycare, contact director Kathleen Merritt at 369-6428.
9000 a kid divided by 250 is $ 36 per day. $4.50 an hour subsidy.
What an article like this needs is how much the subsidized parents actually pay per day!
Taxpayers want to know.