Addressing Klickitat County’s childcare desert

Columbia Gorge News

BOARDMAN — Last Wednesday, a group of public officials and advocates made the two-hour trip east to Boardman’s Neal Early Learning Center with one main question in mind: How could this childcare model be replicated in Klickitat County?

Built in 2016 by the Port of Morrow with state dollars, the facility has long been heralded as a bright spot, originally housing several publicly funded programs — Head Start, Preschool Promise, Early Head Start, Oregon Pre-Kindergarten — that assist low-income families. But those above federal poverty thresholds still struggled with affordability and access, so a gap remained.

Then, in September 2020, Families First Childcare joined the campus thanks to a web of partnerships, filling an expanded space once again constructed by the port.

“Our program wasn’t built to necessarily duplicate what Head Start is already doing. We’re here because families that make too much money couldn’t find preschool programs,” said Brenda Profitt, director and head teacher at Families First, during a tour on April 15.

Roughly half of Profitt’s $800,000 annual budget comes from privately paying parents, while the Morrow Educational Foundation, Boardman Community Development Association and many companies with local sites, including Boardman Foods, Lamb Weston, Amazon, Threemile Canyon Farms, and Tillamook, provide the rest.

Boardman Foods, a vegetable processor that employs 300 people during peak periods, actually launched its own licensed after-school program in 2004 for workers only. Driven by spiking demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, it eventually morphed into the fully fledged daycare led by Profitt that operates on a first-come, first-served basis, regardless of employer. Industry donations have been critical in keeping prices low enough for parents while also providing livable pay with benefits.

“Women are disproportionately affected,” said Profitt, emphasizing how mothers often carry the burden of raising children. “Women in the field of childcare are also impacted with lower wages. They don’t receive the kind of wages that they could possibly earn outside of it.”

And how did Morrow County attract those industry donations? By establishing an enterprise zone, agreements that have, in part, allowed data centers to proliferate across the region. Back in 2023, port commissioners granted an estimated $1 billion in tax breaks to Amazon for the construction of five new data centers, and more recently, the corporation doled out $20.5 million to six local residents for exacerbating underground drinking water pollution. The Dalles has negotiated three similar agreements with Google.

For Profitt’s purposes, however, the Columbia River Enterprise Zone helped realize infrastructure that would’ve been difficult to otherwise establish. Most of the funding Families First receives from companies is money they save in tax abatements, she said, providing the groundwork to attract employees.

Boardman added more than 1,000 residents from 2020-2025, a growth rate of 25.4%, based on figures from Portland State University’s Population Research Center.

Between Families First, the InterMountain Education Service District and Umatilla-Morrow Head Start, the whole facility can serve up to 156 children, from 6 weeks to 13 years old. By comparison, there are about 190 slots at licensed providers across Klickitat County, as previously reported by Columbia Gorge News, despite being almost double the size of Morrow County.

While there are unique challenges across the river, Klickitat County Commissioner Lori Zoller was taking notes. White Salmon Valley School District Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn attended the tour as well, which was organized by Lynn Mason, director, and Gabrielle Gilbert, child advocate, of the White Salmon nonprofit Rural Solutions.

“Maybe we can wrap this into what we expect these big corporations to pony up for if they’re going to come into our community,” said Zoller, who acknowledged some missed opportunity with previous renewable energy projects. She added that conversations with county staff about the enterprise zone concept are pending.

After beginning with a roundtable discussion, the group popped into office spaces, a classroom of kids painting, and the kitchen, where trays of miniature pizzas made from scratch were about to start baking. Side conversations about next steps and who would coordinate them naturally ensued.

“The key really is having multiple stakeholders at the table and investment from the community,” said Suellen Whitlock, director of Umatilla-Morrow Head Start. “This is an opportunity for all of us to pool resources into a one-stop shop, because Head Start only goes so far.”

As for additional tips, Profitt emphasized the value of integrating a community college training program with any new facility, beyond gathering industry partners to discuss workforce needs. She also noted that local hospitals could establish an independent foundation to provide additional financial support.

“You walk in, you just feel it,” Mason said during public comment to White Salmon’s City Council later that day. “The building is beautiful, but the people are beautiful, and they created a high-quality center.”

On April 28, Klickitat County’s Board of Commissioners will participate in its third workshop on childcare, beginning at 10:30 a.m.