Southwest Montana Youth Partners took a major step forward in its journey to bring more childcare to Boulder this week, as it formally launched a Request for Proposal for a licensed childcare provider.
Finally, with a building secured and an end goal in sight, SMYP can focus on what kind of childcare provider they want to bring to the community.
“We’re trying to get pretty creative in terms of the request,” said SMYP President Drew Dawson. “We’re in a unique position because we already own the building.”
Dawson said it is the hope of SMYP to find a provider that can offer childcare at an affordable cost to the community and also offer reasonable wages. In addition, he said the board wants to offer the potential childcare provider with a sustainable profit.
“I believe we’re in a unique position to do this,” he said.
This has been a long time coming for SMYP, a non-profit corporation created to “select and oversee the daycare provider and to acquire other sources of funding to ensure sustainable childcare and youth programs in the Jefferson County area,” according to SMYP President Drew Dawson. It is their mission, he added, to “improve the health and well-being of youth in Southwestern Montana from childhood to adolescence, beginning with early childcare and education, by securing and coordinating resources and through advocacy for youth and their parents.”
And SMYP has been adhering to this mission, accomplishing one big task at a time. In the fall of 2021, for example, the non-profit corporation secured funding to bring a classroom building from Jim Darcey Elementary School north of Helena to the Boulder Elementary School campus for use as a childcare facility. This project was in collaboration with the city of Boulder, Jefferson County Commissioners and the Boulder Elementary School District.
“The city of Boulder purchased the Jim Darcey classroom building, and the Jefferson County Commissioners provided the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding to the city for the purchase and equipping of the building,” Dawson said.
SMA Architects of Helena And Buckeye Plumbing and Heating have been adhering to the needs of the structure, getting in its best shape possible to potentially open this fall.
Jefferson Local Development Corporation Childcare Coordinator Lindsey Graham, who advises the SMYP board, said she relates with the need for more childcare in Boulder on a personal level.
“When this project started there was no childcare in Boulder,” she said, “which, as a parent, was very challenging. I had to travel to Helena every day and ended up getting a job there because that’s where I had access to childcare.”
For Graham, the childcare provider she’d like to see in Boulder is one that can emphasize a safe environment for the program that keeps the children active and engaged. She’d also like to have a provider with a background in business.
“We want to make sure the provider is able to not only understand the child development aspect, but also has the business background in order to keep the center running,” she said.
In addition, Graham said it’s critical to have a provider that understands the importance of community involvement and is willing to work as a team.
“The Boulder community is amazing and works so hard to provide the best education and safest environment for their youth,” she said. “We want to make sure we find a provider who has equal energy and is willing to work with all community members to provide the best for the children.”
Finding this kind of quality childcare has been an issue in Jefferson County for some time, Graham said, but many individuals have stepped up in the community to help remedy the situation, including all the members of the SMYP Board of Directors.
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By providing the building and agreeing to provide in-kind services of building operational expenses for two years, Dawson said it’s clear the city of Boulder is invested in childcare. By saying this, however, Dawson recognizes the conflict of interest he has as a city council member.
“City officials frequently have dual functions in a small town, and it can be awkward,” he said. “Conflicts of interest can be difficult. Even in a town this size we need to be alert and cognizant.”
Dawson said, as a city council member, he has not voted on anything involving SMYP and will give the non-profit “no special treatment.”
Next steps
On July 21 SMYP representatives met with City Clerk Ellen Harne and Public Works Director Dennis Wortman to review the floor plan for the childcare center, which can host up to 28 children.
“It was an informal meeting to make sure we’re on the same wavelength and same timetable,” Dawson said. “We’re proceeding on target to open this fall, providing we get responses to the RFP from qualified childcare providers and are able to enter into a contract with one of them. That’s the biggest variable right now.”
The deadline for interested providers to submit a response is Monday, August 15. Graham said she is optimistic about the potential provider and about the impact this project can have in Boulder and beyond.
“We have a lot of learning opportunities with this project,” she said, “and I believe we have a good model here, one that could expand past Boulder. Whitehall has seen what we’re doing here and they want to adopt the same program.”
