Meadowlark Place Head Start was awarded $750,000 from a state fund to create a new Head Start facility on site. (Submitted by Community Partners for Affordable Housing)

Oregon Housing and Community Services paired with BuildUp Oregon to pass along $7.4 million in grants and loans to day cares attached to affordable housing complexes, including $750,000 grant in Washington County.

Meadowlark Place Head Start in Beaverton was awarded $750,000. A new Head Start facility is planned within the 104-unit senior housing complex. The facility will offer three classrooms for preschool-aged children, complete with indoor and outdoor play areas, courtesy of the grant, according to Oregon Housing and Community Services.

Meadowlark Place, at 12350 S.W. Fifth St, will have 96 one-bedroom and eight studio apartments and feature a community room with a kitchen and on-site residential services, just steps from the Beaverton City Library. Construction is slated for this year with plans to begin housing residents in 2027.

The statewide grant and loan fund was established by the Oregon Legislature and is the first of its kind to dedicate funding to early education in affordable housing developments.

“As the state housing agency, we have a role in building a better and more affordable life for Oregon families,” said OHCS Executive Director Andrea Bell. “Available and affordable housing and childcare are constrained by supply — these are things we can do something about through locally driven approaches. Through this partnership we are taking action to boost incomes and improve family outcomes.”

The grantee sites were selected to help curb the state’s urgent need for child care. Between the nine projects, 542 child care seats will be created or preserved.

According to a late 2023 report commissioned by the Washington County Public Health Department, Washington County has a dearth of child care options relative to the number of children in the county. The study found there were 23,979 child care slots and 39,000 children ages 0-5 in Washington County, as of 2021.

“Washington County will need to almost double its child care capacity for children ages zero through five to achieve a target of two slots for every three children by 2030,” a press release about the report stated.

Awards were also issued to programs in Multnomah, Marion, Yamhill, Deschutes, Lane and Jackson counties.