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Clallam commissioners agree to draft letter supporting YMCA of the Olympic Peninsula funding request
Summary
County staff presented a draft letter of support for a YMCA early learning facility and commissioners asked staff to strengthen language linking the project to workforce and childcare shortages before placing the letter on next week's consent agenda.
County staff presented a draft letter on March 17 asking the Board of Commissioners to send a letter of support to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray for a congressionally directed spending request from the YMCA of the Olympic Peninsula for an early childhood center.
Why it matters: County leaders said the YMCA project would address local child-care shortages identified in a county workforce study and help remove a barrier to workforce participation.
Lonnie, county staff presenting the item, said Wendy Bart, executive director of the YMCA of the Olympic Peninsula, requested the letter to accompany a congressionally directed spending application. "Wendy Bart ... has reached out to let us know that they are looking for an opportunity to apply for congressionally directed spending to support the YMCA's early learning facility," Lonnie said. The draft before the board noted the YMCA estimates a funding gap of about $2,000,000 and requests $1.5 million from Sen. Murray.
Commissioners asked staff to strengthen the paragraph tying the YMCA project to local workforce and economic-development goals. A commissioner said child-care shortages were a leading obstacle to people returning to work in the county; staff cited a local study that quantified a child-care shortfall (staff said the shortfall figure should be verified; the transcript indicates the number discussed was roughly 420 slots but the meeting did not produce an official county figure).
Staff said a site for the new center is ready and that a groundbreaking is being considered in April. Commissioners directed staff to revise the support letter to emphasize the project's role in addressing childcare shortages and to place the revised letter on the agenda for formal action at next week's meeting.
Outcome and next steps: Staff will revise the paragraph about workforce and childcare, circulate the revised letter to commissioners and place the item on the agenda for formal action at the next meeting.
