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HSD Announces Over $4.5 million in Awards to Expand Child Care Access

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Awards will support the creation of 311 new child care slots citywide through the expansion or renovation of facilities.

**Updated 10/18/2022 to add additional quote from The Children’s Center at Burke Gilman Gardens and a map showing locations of awarded proposals

Today, the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) announced awards from its Child Care Facilities Request for Proposals (RFP), providing $4.535 million of Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery (CLFR) funds through the City’s Seattle Rescue Plan to renovate or develop six programs and increase licensed capacity in preschool and child care facilities, supporting the creation of 311 new child care slots.

City map showing locations of awarded proposals

The RFP focused on supporting child care providers and families hit hardest by COVID-19, in particular low-income workers and communities and people of color, by increasing access to child care. At the national level, mothers of children aged 12 years and younger lost jobs at a rate three times greater than fathers of young children between February and August 2020. Throughout the pandemic, women, particularly women of color, have experienced higher levels of unemployment, threatening to undo decades of progress towards gender equity. Early learning programs are vital to an equitable COVID-19 recovery.

“Seattle has long faced a child care crisis that has put massive financial strain on working families, and the pandemic only magnified this. The lack of affordable, reliable child care options has caused many parents – especially women of color – to lose out on wages, jobs, and other opportunities,” said Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. “This $4.535 million investment will add 311 child care seats, including much needed infant seats, to our city’s child care sector, giving more families the support they need to recover and thrive.”

“I am excited to see this significant investment in child care funding go to a diverse group of providers that will serve over 300 Seattle kids,” added HSD’s Acting Director Tanya Kim. “As a working mom, I experienced just how important having the right care for your kid is for the entire family’s ability to thrive. This is an important step to ensuring that working moms and families hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis have the ability to fully recover.”

Proposals for the RFP were assessed by a diverse volunteer panel on project readiness, project budget, provider capacity, and support for low-income and/or Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) families disproportionally affected by COVID-19. The awarded proposals are:

Applicant
(partnership when applicable)		Project NameProject Site AddressAwarded AmountsNew Child Care Slots SupportedEstimated Construction Start Date
Refugee Women’s Alliance – w/ partner WF Northaven/ Barrientos RYANNorthaven11057 8th Ave NE$1.5 million108Q4 2022
Community Roots Housing PDA – w/ partners:
El Centro de la Raza & Bridge Housing		Jose Marti Child Development facility at Northgate3rd Ave NE & NE 103rd St$1.5 million88Q2 2023
The Children’s Center at Burke Gilman GardensTCC Renovation and Facility Expansion5251 Sand Point Way NE$375,00018Q2 2023
Tiny Tots Development Center 1Tiny Tots Development Center 1 Remodel8314 Renton Ave S$422,37415Q4 2022
St. Paul Early Learning CenterRenovation of St Paul ELC’s Toddler & Infant Rooms10001 57th Ave S$308,80823Q4 2022
University Heights Center/University Temple Children’s SchoolUHeights/UTCS Early Learning Expansion5031 University Way NE$428,81859Q4 2022

“I’m delighted to maximize federal COVID relief dollars to invest in long-term educational opportunities for our youngest residents, and additional child care slots for Seattle’s working families,” said Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, Chair of the Housing & Finance Committee. “Paired with child care provider investments, our work now builds towards equity, growth, and economic resilience for kiddos, child care providers, working families, and Seattle’s businesses. I’ll be looking to enhance our investments to preserve existing and new facilities in child care in this year’s budget process and thank the team at HSD, and SEIU 925, for their work in launching this program.”

“The child care shortage facing our city, region and nation is impacting working families the hardest. These awards focus on the people we need to serve to make sure working parents can retain their family’s self-sufficiency and help kids thrive,” said Councilmember Dan Strauss, District 6. “The systemic issues creating our child care backlog cannot be fixed with one solution, and this focused funding is an essential piece to make child care more affordable, accessible, and closer to home. Thank you to all child care providers, because without you working families would come to a standstill.”

Together, these six projects will add much needed child care slots in neighborhoods that are currently underserved. Several projects will add highly sought-after licensed infant care slots.

Architect’s rendering of proposed ReWA facility at Northaven

“There is a tremendous need by the community to have accessibility for birth to 5-year-old child care. This investment was vital for ReWA to expand its programming in meeting the demands and needs of low-income, immigrant, and refugee children to have an opportunity to thrive in a high-quality early learning environment in which their identity and home languages are supported and strengthened as they transition to kindergarten,” said Susan Lee, Director, Early Learning Centers Operations, Refugee Women’s Alliance. “The investment by HSD has offered an opportunity for ReWA to provide an innovative, multi-generational campus partnering with Northaven Senior Living, leveraging shared use of space with forward-thinking concepts of intergenerational programming.”

The Northaven project, operated by Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA), will add child care in the Northgate neighborhood and will be co-located with a senior living center to promote multigenerational activities. Currently, 95% of the children ReWA currently serves in its child care live in low-income families, where the household earnings are less than 80% median family income.

“El Centro de la Raza’s Jose Marti Child Development Center is honored and privileged to partner with Community Roots Housing and BRIDGE Housing,” said Estela Ortega, Executive Director of El Centro de la Raza. “We are very happy and excited for the opportunity to provide a high-quality bilingual, bicultural curriculum emphasizing cultural diversity, social justice, and family involvement in the Northgate area of Seattle.”

The Jose Marti Child Development Facility, operated by El Centro de la Raza, will be co-located with affordable housing adjacent to the Northgate light rail station.

“We are excited to partner with the City of Seattle’s Child Care Facilities program! These funds will assist us in increasing our center capacity by 40% and adding a new toddler classroom while remaining open to serve currently enrolled families,” shared Jennifer Kelty, Executive Director of The Children’s Center at Burke Gilman Gardens. “High quality child care and early learning programs are critical to Seattle’s workforce and economy, and programs like the Child Care Facilities fund are an investment in both our current and future generations!”

The Children’s Center at Burke Gilman Gardens serves a high percentage of children with disabilities.

“In the current condition that COVID left most programs scrambling to meet our basic needs, there is not enough left over to upgrade, repair or expand without these vital Child Care Facilities funds” said Angelia Hicks-Maxie, CEO of Tiny Tots Development Center. “These funds are a lifeline for programs to continue to provide quality facilities for children and families. Thank You, City of Seattle for your investments!”

“Thanks to the HSD Child Care Facilities grant, this will allow us to renovate two classrooms to create a toddler and infant room. By adding these renovated toddler and infant rooms we will be allowing our current licensed program to become a full Early Learning Center (ELC) in South Seattle,” said Laurie Clark, Center Director at St. Paul Early Learning Center. “The complete ELC model will allow families a quality, full-day, year-round child care program for their children birth to 5 years of age. We are so excited to get this place renovated and fully enrolled! Thanks again for this grant to allow us to move forward.”

“Investing in early learning programs is a proven strategy in investing in our children’s futures. UHeights is grateful for the HSD Child Care Facility Award that is allowing us to partner with University Temple Children’s School (UTCS) to expand early learning opportunities for 59 additional children, with 50% slotted for families who qualify for state subsidies,” said Maureen Ewing, Executive Director of UHeights. “This award is making it possible to ensure the continued success of UTCS, after they were displaced from their U District home of 50 years, after it was demolished for redevelopment.”

Tiny Tots Development Center Celebrates Opening of New Childcare Facility in Othello

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Seattle’s Human Services Department (HSD) supported the project with a $1.5 million award through its Child Care Bonus Program and, combined with $900,000 in capital funding from the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL), these investments will support the creation 80 new childcare slots.

Yesterday, Tiny Tots Development Center celebrated the completion of their new development center facility in Othello with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The facility creates 80 new childcare slots including:

  • Two preschool classrooms with capacity for 20 children each
  • Two toddler classrooms with capacity for 14 children each
  • Two infant rooms with capacity for six children each
Crowded hallway filled with balloons and people with woman standing at center wearing face mask
Tiny Tots CEO Angelia Hicks-Maxie (center) prepares to cut the ribbon at the opening of the new childcare facility

HSD, through their Child Care Bonus program, provided $1.5 million to support the construction of this new facility. The Child Care Bonus program funds the creation of newly licensed capacity (infant care to preschool) ensuring at least 20% of capacity is reserved for children from families with incomes less than 80% of the area median.

“There is absolutely no way that Tiny Tots would have been able to raise the $1.5 million for the building construction without this (Child Care Bonus) program,” said Angelia Hicks-Maxie, CEO of Tiny Tots Development Center. “Childcare programs, especially those who are led by leaders in the BIPOC community are often not at the table when it comes to funds like the Child Care Bonus program – I was impressed that we were invited to sit at the table and share what our needs were for the project in an authentic manner. We were never asked to compromise our dreams to chase the funds.”

Group of city staff posing for a picture outside new facility
Tiny Tots CEO Angelia Hicks-Maxie (front row center) is joined by members of DEEL’s Early Learning team (L to R front row): Janet Thomas, Delia Urrea, Early Learning Deputy Director Leilani Dela Cruz, Jenny Choi and Melissa Bookwalter (back row right); DEEL Director Dwane Chappelle (back row center right); HSD CFO Joseph Kasperski (back row center left); and Kevin Mundt, HSD (back row left). Photo courtesy of DEEL.

“The Human Services Department is proud to have played a part in the opening of this urgently needed childcare facility, which will be an indelible resource for the community for years to come,” said HSD Acting Director Tanya Kim. “For projects of this magnitude, it really takes multiple partners coming together to achieve the common goal of more access to quality childcare for all. Congratulations to Tiny Tots on making your vision a reality.”

In 2019, DEEL awarded Tiny Tots with $900K in capital funding through the Seattle Preschool Program Provider Facilities Fund for a new Tiny Tots site as part of the Othello Square development project. This funding was through the 2018 voter-approved Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy to support expansion of two new classrooms for the Seattle Preschool Program. The first Seattle Preschool Program classroom will open this September for the 2022-2023 school year.

“We know that investments in high-quality early learning facilities are key to giving more Seattle children an equitable start,” said DEEL Director Dwane Chappelle. “Tiny Tots is a longtime partner with the City of Seattle through both our Seattle Preschool Program and Child Care Assistance Program, and we are thrilled to celebrate the opening of this beautiful facility that will help more preschoolers in the surrounding community be kindergarten ready.”

Photo of empty childcare classroom full of new furniture, toys, dolls and more awaiting children to fill the cubby holes.
Photo of empty childcare classroom full of new furniture, toys, dolls and more awaiting children to fill the cubby holes.
Photo of empty childcare classroom full of new furniture, toys, dolls and more awaiting children to fill the cubby holes.
Photo of empty childcare classroom full of new furniture, toys, dolls and more awaiting children to fill the cubby holes.
Photos courtesy of DEEL

The new Tiny Tots Development Center in Othello is a part of a larger development that also includes Seattle Children’s Hospital’s new Odessa Brown Clinic. The parcel that contains the clinic and childcare center also has a subsidized and market rate housing development.

In mid-May, HSD announced the availability of up to $5 million of Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery (CLFR) funds and up to $1 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to increase licensed capacity in preschool and child care facilities across the City of Seattle. Completed application packets are due by 12:00 Noon PDT, on Tuesday, June 28, 2022.  For more information, and all RFP materials, please visit HSD’s Funding Opportunities web page.

In addition, HSD’s Child Care Bonus program contributed $1 million to the recently completed renovation of Primm ABC Child Care Center adding 49 new slots to this established program in the Rainier Valley. In September, El Centro de la Raza’s Jose Marti Child Development Center is anticipated to open a childcare center in the new Cedar Crossing development at the Roosevelt Station. The development is being built by Bellwether Housing and Mercy Housing NW and is being funded by the Office of Housing with support of over $2 million from HSD’s Child Care Bonus program. This program is expected to be licensed for approximately 68 children.

HSD Announces Availability of Funding to Increase Licensed Capacity in Preschool and Child Care Facilities Across the City of Seattle

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**Updated June 23, 2022 to reflect an amendment to the funding availability

Photo of Back to School Corner with books and tables in an empty child care facility
Photo by Pavel Verbovski

The Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) is pleased to announce the availability of up to $5,000,000 of Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery (CLFR) Funds and up to $1,000,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to increase licensed capacity in preschool and child care facilities across the City of Seattle. Providers interested in applying for this RFP must have experience in:

  • providing developmentally and culturally appropriate early learning programming;
  • working with Seattle children and families most disproportionately impacted by the effects of COVID-19; and
  • working with Seattle children 0 – 5 years old.

The American Rescue Plan Act states that “the pandemic and the necessary actions taken to control the spread had a severe impact on households and small businesses, in particular low-income workers and communities and people of color.” As a result, CLFR funds should provide “assistance to those households, businesses, and non-profits in communities most disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.”

At the national level, mothers of children aged 12 years and younger lost jobs at a rate three times greater than fathers of young children between February and August 2020. Throughout the pandemic, women, particularly women of color, have experienced higher levels of unemployment, threatening to undo decades of progress towards gender equity. Early learning programs are vital to an equitable COVID-19 recovery. Seattle Ordinance 126371 allocated CLFR funding to be invested specifically toward child care capital improvements.

In working with community to identify the challenges of participating in the Seattle Preschool Program (SPP), the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) received feedback from partners citing the following as ongoing challenges for sustainability: (1) the lack of available and licensable space as a barrier to SPP program expansion, and (2) organizational capacity related to board development, fundraising plans, human resources, and financial management.

HSD is supporting the expansion of early learning facilities and environments by investing in the capacity of licensed early learning programs across Seattle:

  1. Nonprofit and for profit, center-based providers and preschools are eligible to apply for $25,000 (min) to $2,000,000 (max)
  2. Nonprofit and for profit, home-based agencies are eligible to apply for $10,000 (min) to $75,000 (max)

For more information, and all RFP materials, please visit HSD’s Funding Opportunities web page: http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/funding-and-reports/funding-opportunities. Completed application packets are due by 12:00 Noon PDT, on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 July 19, 2022.

Questions?

Please contact Ken Astrein, Funding Process Coordinator, via email with any questions about this RFP or to request an accommodation for the information session: childcarefacilities@seattle.gov

Seattle Channel program highlights education levy

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The five-part series “Our City, Our Schools” premiered this week on the Seattle Channel. The series chronicles levy programs that help bolster student success in school. For details visit this Web site. One of HSD’s Step Ahead preschools, South West Early Learning Preschool, is featured in the series.

Free half-day preschool for 4-year-olds

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The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) is now enrolling for the 2013-14 school year.  The program is funded by Washington State Department of Early Learning and the City of Seattle.  ECEAP is a free half-day preschool program for 4-year-olds whose families live or work in Seattle. 

  • Our preschools prepare your child for kindergarten.
  • Our preschools honor family, culture and language.
  • Our preschools help develop the skills and love for learning that lead to success in school and in life.

For more information call the Seattle Human Services Department at 206-386-1050.

Step Ahead preschools enrolling for 2013-2014

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Slots are now available for high-quality, low-cost preschool for the 2013-2014 school year through HSD’s Step Ahead Preschool Program funded through the Families & Education Levy.. Step Ahead preschools are located in numerous locations in Seattle. Step Ahead teachers have degrees in early childhood education and receive continuing education. Schools feature small class sizes and enriched learning environments. Bilingual programs and staff are available.

 To qualify

  • Children must be three or four years old by August 31, 2013
  • Families must live in Seattle city limits
  • Parents must be employed/training
  • Must meet the income guidelines based on family size

Call 386-1050 for more information or visit this Web site.