New Head Start building
Monday, March 7, 2005 12:35 PM PST
Fueled by grant, Vale
project will replace
double-wide trailer
Jessica Keller - Argus Observer
VALE - Workers broke ground last week at the construction site for Vale's new Head Start building.
The building project, which is expected to be completed in mid-September before school starts, will replace the current Vale Head Start building situated next to Vale Elementary School. The current building is a small double-wide trailer the Malheur County Child Development Center - responsible for implementing the program - has been using, Sue Robinett, executive director for MCCDC, said.
The trailer is more than 20 years old, and only has one classroom, which does not meet the Vale Head Start program's needs.
The program currently serves 18 children, but because of size constraints, rather than teaching them in one class, program organizers were forced to teach one group of nine in the morning, the other nine in the afternoon.
The new building was made possible through a $600,000 Community Development Block grant MCCDC received from the state, and includes the cost of the engineering, construction and grounds maintenance.
MCCDC put up a $140,000 match for the grant coming through the federal Head Start program. Robinett estimates the entire project to cost about $750,000.
"We've been working on this project for the past 12 years getting funding so we can put that facility in place," Robinett said, adding she began the project when she first assumed her position in Malheur County.
Robinett said she wrote the Community Block Development grant about 21/2 years ago. The funding was approved in 2003, but Robinett said a lot of preliminary work had to be done before construction could start.
"It's been quite a project," she said. The new building will give the program plenty of room, Robinett said, to serve Vale and accommodate future growth.
"I think it's a good service for the county and the people who reside in the county," Robinett said. It will have four classrooms to use, although, Robinett said the program currently only has enough children for one. Rather than splitting the classes, there will be one, full-day class.
"Which is a lot more cost effective, and as the need grows in Vale we can include more children in our program," Robinett said.
The building will also have a large, indoor play area for days when it is too cold or too hot for children to go outside. A parent room, office space, resource room for supplies, bathrooms and a kitchen will complete the building.
Robinett said one future plan for the Head Start program includes a venture to enable the Malheur County WIC program to utilize the office. Head Start and the WIC program provide services and resources to low-income children and families. The Vale Head Start will still share playground space with Vale Elementary School, and last summer spent $40,000 purchasing new equipment, which Vale School District employees installed. While the Head Start program organizers are currently renting the property they currently use, having traded a year's rent to owners of the site for the trailer, MCCDC does own the land used for the new building.
