Otter Creek Child Center Set to Open in December

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 15 marked the opening of the Otter Creek Child Center (OCCC) at 150 Weybridge Street—the culmination of a seven-year, community-wide effort to address a shortage of child care in Addison County.

The event drew hundreds of local residents and project partners—including representatives from Middlebury College and local, state, and federal agencies—along with many of the children who will attend the 17,000-square-foot facility. Guests toured the center’s 13 classrooms, commercial kitchen, three playgrounds, office space, conference rooms, staff lounge, and expanded parking lot. 

“Today’s ribbon cutting represents so much more than the opening of a building,” said Linda January, the center’s executive director. “It is a celebration of what our community can accomplish when we work together with a shared purpose, ensuring that every child has access to a safe, joyful, developmentally rich place to learn and grow.”  

The new center includes a 13,000-square foot-expansion that provides 77 additional childcare spaces, bringing the total to 139 daily spots supported by 28 new employees. The facility is considered a significant step toward addressing the child care shortage locally and statewide. In Addison County, 440 infants and 241 toddlers were in need of child care as of September 30, 2023, according to a report by the Vermont child care advocacy group Let’s Grow Kids. Prior to the expansion, the county could accommodate only 145 infants and 103 toddlers.

“This new facility is great for kids, great for our economy, and great for families who finally get the call that they have a spot,” said Rep. Jubilee McGill, a Democrat from Addison County, who recalled giving a speech on the State House floor in support of Act 76, a child care bill, while holding her infant—now a three-year-old at Otter Creek. “This facility is especially great for the parents at home, mostly women, who can now take a job or return to school and breathe a little easier.”

David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration, thanked members of the 12-person Community Childcare Expansion Team including representatives from Let’s Grow Kids, the Early Care and Learning Partnership, Building Bright Futures, Champlain Valley Head Start, and other Addison County community members. 

“I had the privilege of working with a core team of leaders and educators from around the state including thought leaders from this community,” said Provost, emphasizing the dedication of January and Cheryl Mitchell, childcare advocate and former deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, as critical to completing the project. “It takes a village and we would not be here without these people.” 

Middlebury College President Ian Baucom told a story about the first time he saw the Otter Creek Child Center in January while interviewing for his current position. Provost and Michelle McCauley, executive vice president and provost, took him on a tour of the town including the Stonecrop Meadows housing development, Town Hall Theater, and the child care center.

“What that said to me was that I was with good people; that I was with good people where civic commitment isn’t just kind of a thing, it’s a reality, a lived commitment,” said Baucom. “I have known from the beginning that we have called ourselves the town’s college—not the college’s town—the town’s college. And when I come to a space like this—focused on families, focused on teachers, focused on children—I’m reminded that the work of youth is not only the work that happens with 18-to-22 year-olds up at the College; the work of youth begins with two and five-year-olds … the work of youth begins with little children looking out into the world at the community around them, the community that cares for them.”

Provost and Sue Ritter, chief of staff, deputy general counsel, and former director of community relations, credited former Middlebury President Laurie Patton for the College’s initial involvement with the project and for remaining a champion of it throughout. “This will help us sustain our community and grow to new heights as we take care of the next generation,” said Ritter, reading a message from Patton. “This is what it means to work with each other, play with each other, and to nurture what is so special about Middlebury.”     

In addition to providing design costs, internal staff resources, and adjacent land, Provost said the College received a $5 million gift for the project from an anonymous donor whose family “cares deeply about the local community.” Other funding sources included the following:

• Let’s Grow Kids (a $3.41 million in Congressionally Directed Spending from U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy).
• Vermont Community Recovery & Revitalization ($500,000)
• Northern Borders Regional Commission 2022 State Economic and Infrastructure Development grant ($350,000) and 2024 Catalyst grant ($397,806)
• Let’s Grow Kids “Make Way for Kids” capacity building grant program ($200,000)
• The Hoehl Family Foundation grant ($100,000)
• Act 76—a state child care law that invests $125 million in sustainable public funds annually into Vermont’s child care system.