‘A Childcare Desert’: Centralia Gets Update on United Learning Center

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Partners involved with the United Learning Center (ULC) gave an update to the city council on Tuesday evening and highlighted the benefits of the United Learning Center — academic success, economic development and poverty reduction. The project is on track to begin construction by the end of the year.

“Lewis County is known as a childcare desert with only 27 percent of kids under the age of five having access to childcare programs,” said Joe Clark, community liaison with the United Learning Center. “Childcare capacity in Lewis County right now is 1,223 kids — that’s with 40 providers — but the total children under the age of five in Lewis County is 4,458.”

The key partners involved in the project include the City of Centralia, United Way of Lewis County, Discover! Children’s Museum, the Early Learning Center, and the Boys and Girls Club. The ULC is planned to be a 45,000 square foot, multi-story building with multiple classrooms, a gym, playground and a capacity for 150 to 200 kids. 

“When I think of Centralia and I think of what’s happening in the future, I get chills. I get so excited to talk about not only what’s going to happen in Centralia with economic growth but also I think about why we’re here tonight and that’s all about the kids,” Executive Director of United Way of Lewis County Debbie Campbell said when addressing the council.

At a city council meeting in mid-August, Centralia voted to dedicate $1.9 million in real estate excise tax to the United Learning Center project. Another $3 million was awarded from the state capital budget earmarked for an early learning center, with United Way of Lewis County acting as the fiscal agent.

The goal of the United Learning Center is to give children the competency and mastery to achieve academic success with a collaborative, high-quality education, Clark said. The ULC is aiming to support early childhood education so that children can be more prepared when entering the formal schooling system. 

The target demographic for the childcare and early education services to be offered at the United Learning Center are ALICE households (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed) also referred to as the working poor.

Data sourced from a 2018 American Community Survey showed that of the 30,327 total households in Lewis County, 10,614 are considered within the ALICE population and affordable childcare options are on the decline. 



“Economic development is key in this, to provide working parents with an inexpensive or free opportunity for their child for early learning and daycare — providing them with the opportunity to go back to work,” Clark said.

Marlena Arata, childcare director at Dell’s Childcare Center, wrote a letter that was read during the council meeting which expressed concern with the limited childcare workforce.

Arata said that although Dell’s Childcare Center has empty rooms and parents would like to enroll their children, she cannot find licensed teachers and all non-profit childcare centers in the county are hiring out of the same labor pool.

“We serve the same population that the United Learning Center plans to market to — the working poor … This facility (ULC) will put Dell’s as well as other centers out of business. State funds will be destroying free enterprise business,” Arata stated in her letter.

Campbell responded by saying that the ULC team is looking for ways to encourage more training for childcare workers county-wide and finding licensed childcare workers is part of the planning. She said that she has reached out to Arata to discuss possible collaborations but has not heard back yet. The ULC team is not trying to put anyone out of business, she said.

“It would be great to communicate with other daycare providers on how we can work as a group to increase the number of qualified instructors ... You don’t just stop building daycare centers because of a lack of teachers — you find a way to get more teachers because the need is there,” Clark said.