Community partnership expands early learning access in Florence

Siuslaw Childcare Friends (SCF) announced the appointment of Jenn Lukashev, a seven-year early childhood education professional in the Florence area, and the owner of Stepping Stones Home Child Care and Preschool, as the community provider for the new Elm Park Early Learning Center. The Center will expand access to quality early learning opportunities for local families. In the center’s community rooms, Lukashev will serve up to 18 infants and toddlers (no more than 8 infants) in one divided classroom, and up to 20 preschoolers in the second classroom. The Center will be located at 1001 Greenwood Street.

Lukashev and SCF are working together to meet the needs of the Siuslaw community. The community classrooms respond to what unserved families told us, which was “a need for full-day, full-week care, especially for the youngest children,” Lukashev said. “Our goal is to offer additional care options for families where more support is needed.”

The community classrooms will feature licensed care for infants and toddlers, as well as preschool, comprehensive scheduling for working families, “and a commitment to making care affordable through Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) and other programs,” said Adrian Pollut, SCF’s president.

Head Start of Lane County (HSOLC) will use the remaining two classrooms at the Center to expand Head Start and Early Head Start programming in west Lane County. HSOLC operates 19 Head Start centers across Lane County and has provided Head Start services for more than 30 years. Lukashev said she is looking forward to collaborating with HSOLC in the Center.

The community rooms are not intended to “take away from programs that are already serving families well, but to help meet the growing and unmet demand for care,” Pollut said. The Siuslaw Region currently has child care slots for only 25% of its 640 children between 0 and 6. Many local providers, Lukashev said, are already operating at or near capacity, and families continue to struggle to find available openings.

“Our hope,” Lukashev said, “is simply to be a partner in strengthening the entire child care landscape in Florence — not to replace or replicate what others are doing well, but to fill important gaps alongside them.” Families who are already well-served by their current providers “will have every reason to stay where they’ve built strong, trusted relationships.”

“We believe,” Lukashev continued, “in a strong, responsive and collaborative early childhood education community, where families have a range of high-quality options and where all programs work together to support the well-being of children and the community.”

Lukashev will provide her early childhood education services through Stepping Stones Center for Early Learning LLC. Pollut said that Stepping Stones will operate independently within the Center, “with the same expenses and commitments as other licensed programs.” An early childhood education provider’s rent is about 6-10% of total expenses, and Stepping Stones will pay $30,000 per year in rent for the community rooms. About 80% of a child care provider’s total expense is for teacher salaries, training and licensing costs, and Stepping Stones intends to offer competitive wages, professional development opportunities, and educator support to strengthen the early childhood education workforce.

One of the Center’s goals is to develop solutions related to affordability for families – a nationwide challenge. SCF’s mission includes supporting families, particularly by raising funds to provide financial aid to families not eligible for ERDC who lack access to child care. By raising funds to bridge that gap, SCF aims to make child care more accessible – ensuring more children have access to safe, enriching care without creating disadvantages to other providers.

Lindsey Phillips, connections coordinator of Siuslaw Vision, said: “Siuslaw Vision has partnered with families, organizations, and neighbors across the greater Siuslaw Region for years to expand child care capacity. We are thrilled to see the collaborative impact of our efforts come to life through the Elm Park Early Learning Center. What a beautiful reflection of our community’s shared commitment to investing in our future learners.”

The Center represents a community-driven effort to expand access to quality early education for families across the Siuslaw Region.

SCF is a 501(c)(3) exempt nonprofit dedicated to: developing the local child care workforce, providing financial aid to low-income families who cannot afford market rate child care, and acting as steward of the center’s two community rooms for long-term sustainability. Along with Pollut, board members include Kim Erickson, Connie Ford, Chelsie Reeves and Sally Wantz. Siuslaw Vision assisted with SCF’s formation, director recommendations, and early operations. For more information on SCF go to childcarefriends.org, or email info@childcarefriends.org.

Layne Morrill, through Chestnut Management LLC, is developing the Center, which will be co-located with Elm Park Apartments, a 32-unit affordable workforce housing project by Our Coastal Village, Inc. (OCV).

Grants from Business Oregon’s Child Care Infrastructure Program to HSOLC and from BuildUp Oregon’s CARE program to OCV cover $2.75 million of the $4.2 million project cost. OCV is investing $750,000 in the Center, three private foundations are providing $350,000, and local businesses and individuals are contributing $225,000.

To satisfy grant funders, Morrill said, “we developed jointly with Lukashev a five-year ‘sustainability proforma’ to guide the operation,” showing that rates will cover all operating costs and preserve the starting working capital through five years.

Construction will begin in late November and complete in July 31, 2026. The Center will open in early September.

For more information about Elm Park Early Learning Center, please contact Layne Morrill, 602-432-6291.