A Bangor child care center will open a second location in Hermon.
The Neighborhood Early Childhood Center, which serves children from 6 weeks old to 5 years old, will open a center at 50 Dave’s Way in Hermon in early November, co-owner Lauren Thompson said Tuesday. The center will be licensed to care for 34 children, she said.
The expansion comes at a time when Maine child care centers have struggled with long waitlists and staffing shortages, sometimes leading to closures. In rural parts of the state, that often leaves families with few places to send their kids. But a handful of changes meant to improve the child care system will take effect this fall.
The changes are part of the two-year, $10.3 billion budget Gov. Janet Mills signed into law in July, including about $59 million to overhaul child care in the state. They involve doubling the average monthly wage stipend for workers from about $200 to $400 and expanding eligibility for child care subsidies to families making 125 percent of the state’s median income.
“We’re really excited to be able to help the community,” Thompson said. “We’ve been doing this since 2002, and we’d like to keep doing it.”
The Neighborhood’s new location in Hermon will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The center has already received about a half-dozen applications for the Hermon location, which was formerly Sensational Minds: Early Learning Academy, also a day care. It is giving tours of its facilities in Bangor, where about 12 children are on the waiting list, Thompson said.
Thompson and her mother, Kelly Buzzell, own the business together. They have noticed a lack of child care centers in Greater Bangor, particularly for infants, and are eager to offer families another option, Thompson said.
Hiring and retaining staff members is one reason some child care centers have struggled to stay open in Maine. The Neighborhood understands that its employees, including students and parents, have lives outside of work and tries to accommodate their schedules, Thompson said.
Monthly stipends for Maine’s child care workers over the last year were another incentive for people to stay, Buzzell said. The American Rescue Plan Act funds give a $200 bonus to the business’ nine employees, she said.
“We’re pushing through,” Thompson said. “We’re trying our hardest to help the Greater Bangor area. We know child care is needed here.”
The Neighborhood applied in late August for a child care grant through Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services, though it has not heard back. Funds would help cover opening costs at the Hermon location.
The center offers care for infants and toddlers, as well as preschool for children from 2 1/2 years old to 5 years old, according to its website.
BDN writer Billy Kobin contributed to this story.
