Pike Market Child Care and Preschool

The Pike Market Child Care and Preschool is a model early childhood program, dedicated to providing access to quality early care and education to all families - regardless of income. We work to end poverty and racism in both our educational and community work by providing outstanding early education to the children in our program, by advocating for community support for access to quality care for all families, and by developing curriculum materials that are culturally relevant and meaningful to children. Pike Market Child Care and Preschool is a dream come true for the Pike Place Market community. After five years of planning, our doors opened October 1, 1982. Pike Market Child Care and Preschool is a private, non-denominational, non-profit, community service corporation licensed to provide child care. We are monitored by and work closely with the City of Seattle Comprehensive Child Care Program and the State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services. We are governed by a Board of Directors, made up of parents and community members. Founded on the idea that all children deserve access to high quality care, we typically provide some type of tuition assistance to 60-85% of enrolled families. We are one of only a handful of quality Seattle child care centers that accept children of families participating in subsidy programs. Our tuition assistance program makes this possible. For families that are ineligible for the available subsidies, we provide a sliding fee scale, basing each family's tuition on their income and family size. Each year, we typically raise around 50% of our budget to maintain our sliding fee scale and tuition assistance program. Our program is recognized throughout our area. We have been nominated for a Mayor's Small Business Award and have been selected 'Best Downtown Child Care' by the readers of both Seattle Weekly and Puget Sound Business Journal. We believe that children's development prospers in a program and environment that supports children's choices and play. We hope that Pike Market Child Care and Preschool is a place where every day, every one of us grows and learns.

Our NAEYC accredited program serves about 75 families each year on a sliding scale. Since over 70% of the families we serve earn low to moderate incomes, we are, for many of our families, the only option for affordable care required for families to earn a living, attend school or otherwise achieve their goals. We don't charge the full cost of care for any of our families, since quality care costs more than the current market-rates will support. To do this, we fund raise over half of our operating costs from individual, corporate and foundation donors. Quality care requires dedicated and skilled teachers, who stay long enough to establish lasting relationships. That's one reason why our costs exceed market-rates - we pay our teachers more than the prevailing wages to attract and retain great teachers. We provide full medical benefits and place a premium on providing excellent working conditions. Many of our teachers have worked at the preschool for over 5-10 years. Our turnover rate is far below the national average for child care - something that we're quite proud of. We also keep children and teachers together for most of the time that they are in the program - children and teachers move from classroom to classroom together as the children grow older. This is in contrast to programs have new teachers for each year of care - moving children through 3-4 classes between their third and fifth birthdays. We also serve over 30,000 meals and snacks to the children in our care - providing 70% of the daily nutritional requirements for our children. Many of the ingredients served are Market-fresh, and all are healthy and nutritious. We're committed to a healthy, vegetable-rich menu. Almost all of our meals are homemade from scratch, prepared by our nutritionist who has prepared meals on site for over 15 years. Finally, we are leaders in the community. We work to advocate for an end to poverty and all other forms of oppression. We stand up for worthy wages for all child care workers. We advocate for more support for early childhood care and education - so that all families can afford quality care for their children. We provide trainings, help communities get together to share ideas, and develop curriculum for culturally relevant care and education for young children.