Lil’ Sprouts Child Care Center has doubled its childcare capacity after finishing a new building last month thanks to a $300,000 state grant.
The Washington State Department of Commerce administered the grant to help families of 3-4 year olds who are from low-income households, have special needs or have experienced at-risk situations.
Construction on the new building began around August 2024 and finished this October, according to center director Zabrina Swendt. With the new building, Lil’ Sprouts is now able to provide care to over double the number of children than it was previously. They have also hired two full-time and three part-time staff members.
“We went from 23 kids before to 59 that we’re licensed for now, so it’s quite a big jump in capacity,” said Jason Polverari, owner of Lil’ Sprouts.
The state will reimburse Lil’ Sprouts as long as it remains open for at least 10 years. Funds from the grant were expected to cover about 75 percent of the total cost, but ended up only covering about 40 percent due to rising construction costs.
Having adequate availability for childcare is a problem in Whatcom County, so the expansion allows more families in the community to be served.
“The most exciting part of the whole process was designing the building and the classrooms to our needs as opposed to trying to make a building work,” Polverari said.
Lil’ Sprouts, which serves ages 12 months through 12 years, is currently enrolling.
“We’ll be updating the front building while we grow into the new building,” Polverari said.
For more information on Lil’ Sprouts, visit its website, lilsproutsnorthwest.com, or call 360/332-8010.
