MIDDLEBURY — An oft-repeated African proverb posits that it takes a village to raise a child.

In Salisbury, it took a community to launch a new childcare center.

After an almost two-year effort that included navigating state environmental rules, overseeing renovations, marshalling volunteer labor, overcoming parking challenges and assembling a workforce, the Salisbury Family Center, or SFC, opened its doors on Aug. 12 in a portion of the town’s former elementary school building at 25 Schoolhouse Road.

Founded and led by Salisbury resident Christian Bowdish, the center currently offers 16 much-needed childcare slots for kids six weeks to 5 years old. SFC’s capacity is expected to swell to 30 within the next few months, pending a state-mandated review of the facility’s water system.

“We’re thrilled about it. I think it’s a great example of what community is supposed to do to help each other,” said Salisbury Selectboard Chairman Patrick Dunn, who was the town’s liaison in helping Bowdish establish SFC in what is a town-owned asset that hasn’t been used to its full potential since 1997. That’s when Salisbury’s K-6 students moved from the 25 Schoolhouse Road building to the then-new Salisbury Community School at 286 Kelly Cross Road.

Since that transition, a small portion of the former school has hosted Salisbury’s town offices, while the balance of the building has been leased. Past tenants have included a local Masons group, and the town of Middlebury recently used the spot for an archiving project.

As Middlebury’s lease was nearing its end, in 2022 Salisbury officials began discussing potential new uses for 25 Schoolhouse Road. Dunn recalled that Selectman Jonathan Blake floated the concept of a childcare center.

Board members coalesced around that idea, and Dunn reached out to area providers, such as the Otter Creek and Mary Johnson childcare centers. Were any of them interested in creating a satellite facility in the former Salisbury school?

“After six or seven inquiries — and many people came to see the space — we heard the same refrain: ‘We love the idea and are grateful, but we don’t have the (staff) to support it,’” Dunn said.

Salisbury officials were about to turn the page on the childcare idea when Dunn received a phone call from Bowdish — a local mom with plenty of experience in the childcare field. A Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center graduate, Bowdish had spent six years as director of Shelburne’s Stonewood School North. She knew there were plenty of families in her own community who needed childcare, and she wanted to be part of the solution.

Dunn told his colleagues about Bowdish’s interest, and both parties decided to work together to make SFC a reality.

Fortunately, Bowdish had several arrows in her quiver to help her hit her business target:

• Vermont last year passed Act 76, a sweeping childcare revitalization law that’s generated an additional $125 million to allow childcare centers to expand their enrollment capacity, upgrade their facilities, and increase compensation and professional development opportunities for their educators and staff.

“It allowed us to offer higher salaries to our staff,” Bowdish said, adding that roughly 90% of the families she’s now serving qualify for subsidies through Act 76.

• Salisbury agreed to lease the 25 Schoolhouse Road space to Bowdish for free for three years. This gives SFC a financial breather during its formative period. SFC will still need to cover its own heat, utilities and other operating costs.
• Bowdish secured an $80,000 startup grant through First Children’s Finance, a nonprofit that, among other things, helps entrepreneurs launch, stabilize, improve and expand childcare businesses. The money has helped SFC renovate the building, including erecting additional interior walls, improving flooring and the electrical system, painting, and enclosing the outside playground with a fence.
• Ready access to a work crew. Bowdish noted the majority of her current nine workers are family and friends. Her colleagues include her mother, Wendy Nielsen; her mother-in-law, Lisa Bowdish; and one of her sisters, Ann Manning.

“I lucked out,” Bowdish said with a smile.

COMMUNITY HELP

Having a public water system designation triggers a lot of permitting and inspection rules, according to Dunn, who estimated the cost of those mandates at around $35,000.

“I asked for help to try to remove that cost burden, because the town didn’t have that money budgeted, and I don’t think taxpayers would have supported it,” he said. “It was already a big ask to get permission (for SFC) to use the building and not charge rent.”

Dunn marveled at the number of area businesses, professionals and citizens who’ve stepped up to give SFC its start. Otter Creek Engineering and folks like Jason Larocque, Jeremy Rathbun, Robbie Devoid, Toby Rheaume, and Gary Dubois chipped in with free labor, advice and/or materials to help solve water system and traffic/parking issues at the site.

“We probably have $50,000 of free labor, assistance and materials from the local community to make this happen, not to mention their time and expertise to get us to this point,” he said.

The town’s road crew, thanks to donated fill, was able to connect SFC to ample parking at the adjacent Salisbury Congregational Church. Church leaders have allowed the childcare center to use their parking to relieve pressure on the seven spaces that currently serve the town-office portion of 25 Schoolhouse Road.

Salisbury’s Development Review Board did a good job reviewing the SFC application and attaching permitting conditions that will ensure safe and orderly access to the site, according to Dunn.

Salisbury will pay around $1,000 per year to do regular checks on the building’s water system. But Dunn believes that expense, as well as SFC’s rent-free status, will be somewhat offset by property tax revenue that SFC (a for-profit entity) will generate.

The town will be able to revisit the rent issue in three years, when the current lease expires.

Meanwhile, Bowdish has had no trouble filling all of SFC’s childcare slots. She already has a waiting list. Twelve of the slots are reserved for infants; the balance are for children 2-5 years old. Most of SFC’s client families live in the Salisbury area, with some in Lincoln, Middlebury and other nearby communities.

SFC is open weekdays 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. It should also be noted that SFC staff are partnering with the Salisbury Community School on its after-school program.

“Things are going very well,” Bowdish said. “We have a lot of happy parents and kids right now.”

SFC’s grand opening event is slated for Friday, Sept. 27, at 4 p.m.

“The grand opening, for us, will be more of a celebration and a thank you to all those people,” Dunn said. “A lot of key folks in town have helped get this off the ground… and helped a young woman launch a really important business.”

Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].