The Village of Sparta has found an innovative solution to the local childcare shortage by purchasing and renovating a vacant building to lease to a daycare provider.
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Sowing Seeds Child Care Center opened its second location on Evergreen Street in the summer of 2024, following owner Allie Houseman's identification of high demand for childcare services in the area.
"The childcare demand is so huge, and I can actually only provide spots, if you think about it, for my infants. I only technically have 20 spots for all of Sparta, for my infants who are under a year old, and the demand is so much higher than that," Houseman said.
The village purchased the vacant building from Kent County and invested $100,000 to remodel the space for childcare use. Village Manager Jim Lower said the partnership benefits both the business and the community.
"If you look at the dollars and cents portion of it, which I think the bang for the buck is there all day long. But when you look at adding 84 new spaces for parents to, you know, send their kids, that's huge for a town like ours to have that space," Lower said.
The arrangement allows Sowing Seeds to operate without the significant upfront costs typically required for facility acquisition and renovation.
"A lot of women like myself, they don't have the means, the capital to purchase a building and get a small business loan to provide the care that is necessary for all these children and the wait list demand," Houseman said.
Lower said the partnership has created 30 jobs and makes Sparta more attractive to potential employers.
"If you look at a lot of major employers, if they're going to locate to a place like Sparta, there really does have to be the availability of childcare to make it work," he said.
Both Lower and Houseman believe this public-private partnership model could be replicated in other communities facing similar childcare shortages.
"If communities are willing to partner with child care owners, passionate people like myself, who want to take good care of these children, it could do the child care industry a great world of good, and really, the parents, the working parents, who need the care, you know, they are the ones we're serving. They need to be able to get to work," Houseman said.
The Village of Sparta will receive an Imagine More Award from Vibrant Futures on Wednesday for its innovative approach to addressing childcare needs in the community.
"I think it's a great investment for the village," Lower said.
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