Growing Care North Spokane Facility Strives To Become A National Model For In-Home Day Cares

In a humble brown North Spokane triplex, a neighborhood is forming a solution to a national problem.

The building, at 43 E. Sanson, is expected to open its doors in August as a small day care, outfitted with the usual serendipity and Shoots and Ladders games. There are 13 other day cares like it in the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood.

But only a handful of other buildings in the country have its ambitions: Become an incubator, training center and national model for the in-home day-care industry.

The incubator, its planners hope, will be a clearinghouse of information that would simplify the difficult task of opening and successfully running a day care from a family residence.

The goal of the incubator - a sort of training center for people looking to open day cares - will offer cheap start-up loans, detailed business plans, instruction from experienced day care providers, tips from state licensers and even a library of toys.

Such a center will seed and fertilize a network of safe, affordable child care centers, say its planners. And such a network could make Nevada-Lidgerwood - a rectangle encompassing much of northeast Spokane - a mecca for quality child care. If it can happen in this neighborhood, why can’t it happen everywhere?

The big plans are stirring up big talk. A researcher from a Massachusetts college is flying in next week to check out the hubbub.

“We started with a problem and the solution grew and grew and grew,” said Linda Crabtree, a Holy Family Hospital marketing director who is coordinating the project. “We are not going to be serving a lot of kids, but the ripple effect of this could be huge.”

Kathy Modigliani, director of Family Child Care Policy for Wheelock College in Massachusetts, has high hopes as well. “It sounds like one of the most promising and exciting models in the country,” she said.

The project is part of the hospital’s Health Improvement Partnership plan to help its surrounding neighborhoods. Representatives from the hospital, the neighborhood, the non-profit day care placement agency Family Care Resources and the state Department of Social and Health Services have spent a year organizing the project.

Last week, Holy Family bought the triplex, listed for $139,000. With a $15,000 gift from the Nevada-Lidgerwood Steering Committee, the home will be remodeled this spring and summer. The hospital will also be subsidizing rent for the incubator day care.

The neighborhood needs the help. It - and many poor areas of North Spokane - have been short on day care. A referral agency often sends parents seeking care near their homes to other parts of the city; providers are routinely fully booked and have waiting lists. Some North Side parents with toddlers looking for child care are being directed as far as the Spokane Valley.

And day care centers - large businesses run by well-educated and more expensive practitioners - prefer affluent areas. Poorer areas tend to have more parents on public assistance and the state pays just 55 percent of a day care provider’s costs, leaving day care owners shortchanged.

One of the results has been a boom in home day cares, usually run by a parent with at least one child. It’s one of the state’s fastest growing businesses, according to the Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.

But keeping a home day care open is tough. A year ago, there were 22 day cares in the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood; last week, there were 13.

Workers make about $2.25 per hour, according to a study by Family Care Resources.

“If we just relied on income from child care, we could not make it,” said Priscila Ellison, owner of the North Spokane Growing Tree.

Crabtree and a group of day care industry officials hope the incubator program will both help existing day cares and spur new ones. Its plan, like the industry itself, is complicated:

Provide training.

The incubator will be a full-time day care for six children staffed by an experienced provider who also would live at the E. Sanson house. An observation room will be built onto the day care, where - behind one-way glass - potential providers can observe and learn from the experienced pro.

“We’re looking for just the right person,” said Kathy Thamm, program manager of Family Care Resources. “They have to be the right combination of mentor, trainer and provider.”

After it’s open, plans call for the incubator to be the hub of a mentor network that matches new and experienced providers.

Help with business planning.

Many in-home day cares fold because the practitioners are more focused on the kids than the books. Poorly run day cares close with money problems just as the owners are understanding how to care for the children.

Karen Seitz, a planning specialist with Family Care Resources, drew up business plans for a model day care, listing everything from heating bills to licensing fees. The stark reality: a $579 monthly profit, after taxes and expenses.

“They need to understand it’s not as simple as a woman staying home with kids. They’re small business owners,” said Seitz, adding that men also run day cares.

Such plans will help providers avoid unpleasant surprises - like one recent surprise when the federal welfare reform law cut food subsidies, leaving some providers with about $200 less per month.

Help day cares start-up.

Seitz, Thamm and Crabtree are looking for capital to start a fund that would loan between $500 and $5,000 for new businesses. Practitioners could also borrow to expand, they say. Interest would be below market rate.

Other cities, including Seattle, have similar funds. Some funds are run as co-ops, with several business contributing to a revolving account.

The incubator will also have a library of training manuals and toys, they say.

Ensure quality.

Lee Williams, a licenser with the state Department of Social and Health Services, will spend time at the incubator, telling providers how to get - and keep - licenses.

Recent license suspensions of several North Side day cares jarred parents, shaking public faith in the industry. That doesn’t help an already tough business.

“This would cut down on the number of closures,” said Williams, responsible for checking most of the providers in North Spokane. “(New providers) will be better prepared, and that’ll help licensers and providers.”

Help the neighborhood.

A network of good child care providers spawned by the incubator could help the neighborhood draw businesses whose employees want quality child care. It’s already sparking interest: a doctor’s office called Thamm, saying it’s considering relocating near the incubator; A Group Health worker said she wants to transfer her child to Lidgerwood Elementary so they can be within walking distance of the incubator.

Al French, president of the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood council met with homeowners next to new triplex to let them know of the plans.

The $15,000 grant is about 10 percent of the neighborhood’s total money, provided by federal Community Development funds.

“We want to create an environment that is a growing, learning experience for kids and a safe environment, while making it a financial reality for the day care providers here,” said French. “We’d like to be a model for the nation.”

There are several questions still to be answered, including where the capital for the loan fund will come from. But in less than a year, the plans have morphed from coffee chats about the woes of the day care industry to a mini-celebration last Friday, when Crabtree got the keys to the triplex.

“I’ve never been involved with anything as satisfying as this,” said Crabtree. “This could be start of something big.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THINGS TO CONSIDER IN CHOOSING DAY CARE Investigate each provider. Ask to see their state license. Check with state licensing office for violations. Ask if each worker has had a background check. Call at least three other parents with children in their care. Drop-in unannounced and stay an hour. Does your child belong in this environment? Hear lots of children crying? Are the children corralled into doing the same thing or are they free to be creative? Check for safety and health. Is the yard is fenced? Check the cleanliness of the center. Make sure someone at the center knows CPR. Are areas of the center closed to you? If so, why? Will your child learn there? Are posters and toys at the children’s level? Will your family’s cultural values be respected? Realize you can change day cares. Is your child happy when she arrives from the day care? Does he bring home things he’s made? How does your child respond to the provider? For more information, contact Family Care Resources at 484-0048 or the Department of Social and Health Services’s Office of Child Care Policy at 456-2891.

Source: Department of Social and Health Services; Family Care Resources; child care providers.