Ticonderoga, November 11, 2022 – The Ticonderoga Revitalization Alliance has received a grant from the Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation to support their efforts of creating childcare resources in the Ticonderoga Area. The Alliance has recently organized the Ticonderoga Community Childcare Alliance, a team of 15 professionals and volunteers in the area with a connection to childcare and the mission to help develop public childcare resources in the area.
The North Country has been determined to be a “childcare desert.” a term developed by the industry to denote areas with a severe lack of childcare. The Child Care Coordinating Council of the North Country did a study (updated in October 2022) identifying and quantifying our “desert” county by county. But, the data for Essex County can be a little misleading because local data can vary widely from town-to-town. In 2022 the Alliance conducted a local childcare survey to establish a baseline of needs for residents and employers in the Ticonderoga Area (Ticonderoga, Hague, Putnam, Crown Point, Moriah). More than 100 families responded. The survey identified 129 children needing childcare just within this small pool of families. The new Childcare Alliance group will be working to establish a childcare center that will be able to service at least 55 children from infant to preschool age.
“Ti-Alliance is determined to create childcare in support of our working families and our employers. It’s a significant economic development issue for our community. We need to build childcare resources to the point that it is no longer an impediment to people being able to live and work here,” said Donna Wotton, Executive Director of Ti-Alliance. We are extremely grateful to the Pearsall Foundation for their keen understanding of this issue and willingness to support. Their family foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life for year-round residents of the Adirondack Park, and we are in awe of the work that they do throughout the Adirondacks. We look forward to their partnership in the coming year.”
For more information, visit the Ti-Alliance website or contact Donna Wotton at donna@ticonderoga-alliance.org.