Some Central Oregon parents are going to work these days breathing a bit easier, now that child care slots in the region have increased thanks to state grant funding.

NeighborImpact has used the funding to increase child care slots in the region over the past few years and its efforts have started to pay off.

Child care centers in Central Oregon suffered during the pandemic, with hundreds of options closing. In recent years, parents may have stopped working to stay home after having children, realizing child care was either too expensive or hard to find. As more providers continue to open new spaces, the burden on parents trying to find child care has eased.

“Parents get excited when they can go back to work,” said Tracy Howard, child care provider in Bend. “My goal is to help families.”

‘Babies can sign before they speak’

Howard, 58, was a nanny for years and decided to continue to help kids by opening a day care center. It’s gone so well, she recently opened a second center. One of her centers is for children ages 8 months to 5 years, while the other is for infants. Her program, Bend Immersion Preschool, also teaches American Sign Language to children. It’s a skill that is important to Howard, who is deaf. The children who attend Howard’s center are mostly hearing, but she says sign language is an important skill for them to learn.

“There were no deaf people running a day care,” said Howard, who spoke to The Bulletin through a telecommunications relay service. “The babies can sign before they can speak. It’s a second language for them, and they learn words a lot easier.”

Ultimately, Howard would like to have one central child care center to make it easier for families, and plans to help as many people as she can.

Hannah Kuehl, who is part of NeighborImpact’s child care resources team, is excited to see what providers are offering in Central Oregon. NeighborImpact partnered with Central Oregon Community College to help teach and certify those who want to open a child care center.

“We’re excited that people are able to get back into the workforce because of additional child care being available,” said Kuehl. “That is the biggest initiative … creating these new child care slots that do accommodate working families with year-round care.”

NeighborImpact created a map of providers the team continues to update, and is supporting existing and new child care programs. The programs NeighborImpact helps need to serve year-round for working families.

Mt. Bachelor’s child care expansion

In April, Mt. Bachelor ski area expanded its on-site day care to be year-round, instead of just being open in the winter. Day care is open to employees and visitors for children aged 6 weeks to 10 years.

John Merriman, president and general manager of the ski area, said child care has been a big challenge for employees, and the company wants to make sure they feel valued. Employees are able to receive child care at a discounted rate.

“They can check on their kids,” he said. “Those up-and-comers, we want to keep them here. We’re continuing to look to give them the ability to live stress-free.”

Mt. Bachelor has operated a child care center in the winter for years, so it already had the space to use year-round. For the summer, day care options will accommodate 2½ hours to a full day of care, to work in parents who want to do a shorter activity, like zip lining, that their children can’t take part in.

When summer season opens to the public June 27, day care will be open for visitors as well as employees. It is open seven days a week and has a full staff.

Meagan Tool, the 24-year-old day care manager at Mt. Bachelor, said warm weather day care looks different than its winter counterpart. The 2½ hour time slots are a new feature. Staff have also had to find toys and appropriate activities for the summer.

“I think it’s definitely a draw,” said Tool, of year-round day care for employees. “On their lunch break (employees) can come up and say hi, just knowing that they’re so close in case something happens.”

The center opens at 8 a.m., and the kids have a morning snack while they wait for everyone to be dropped off. The morning is for paint projects and crafting, while the afternoon is for rest and playtime. Currently, with only employees’ children, the center has five to six kids a day. The capacity is 38 kids, said Tool.

“One thing we’re working on now is trying to get, especially for the infants that are here on a regular basis, getting that structure in and development and all of those pieces,” she said. “Parents are missing out on the opportunities to work on that while they’re at work, so we try to implement things like that here.”

The day care is looking into getting Strider balance bikes for the kids during the summer, and is also planning short hikes around the base of the mountain.