ALBURGH — After years of dreaming, planning, designing and fundraising, the Alburgh Family Clubhouse has officially broken ground on construction of a brand new, state-of-the-art child care and early learning center on Missile Base Road in Alburgh.
The clubhouse is on track to open in fall 2025. The clubhouse will address an urgent need for expanded child care and early learning opportunities for young children and their families in the small rural communities of Grand Isle and Franklin counties. AFC will offer full-day, full-year infant, toddler, preschool and afterschool programs.
AFC’s mission is to strengthen families, serve the community and help each and every child get a great start in life. Affordable access to high-quality early care and learning is a critical component in a vibrant and flourishing community. By expanding this access, the clubhouse will boost economic development by creating new jobs and enabling parents with young children to participate fully in the local economy. In an innovative partnership with the Parent Child Center at Northwest Counseling and Support Services, the clubhouse will also offer parenting education, family support services and opportunities for vitally important social connections among local families.
“We could not be more excited to finally break ground on the clubhouse facility. This represents years of effort from our Board, our local, state and federal partners, and the donors and philanthropic contributors who have encouraged and supported us along the way,” Gina Lewis, AFC president, said. “Alburgh families need and deserve a center that can provide childcare, early education, and after-school programming right here in our community. Today, we are officially on our way to realizing a vision to bring positive change to Alburgh, and the region, with this enduring resource.”
The Clubhouse Board of Directors would like to express our gratitude to the people of Alburgh who believed, and to the individuals and organizations that helped us reach this moment:
Alburgh Select Board
Building Bright Futures
George Mergens Foundation
Hoehl Family Foundation
Lake Champlain Islands Economic Development Corporation
Let's Grow Kids
North Country Federal Credit Union
Northern Borders Regional Commission
Northwest Counseling & Support Services
Northwest Regional Planning Commission
Senator Bernie Sanders
Sunset Lake Enterprises & the Bellavance Family
United Way of Northwest Vermont
USDA Rural Development
Vermont Agency for Commerce & Community Development: Community Development Program, Community Recovery and Revitalization Program
Dozens of community contributors of all ages, backgrounds, and expertise
The AFC Board also appreciates the team of consultants who worked alongside them — Duncan Wisniewski Architects, who designed the new building, Heart of a Child Early Care and Learning Consultation, and Capital Project Consulting (PCI).
Reeva Murphy, from Heart of a Child, who serves as project manager for the project expressed: “The passion, persistence, and courage of the AFC Board and its supporters has created a model for other small rural communities to emulate in expanding access to high-quality early care and education for young children and families. It has been a tremendous effort to get to this point. Children and families in Alburgh need this center operational as soon as we can build it and, with construction underway, every day now brings us closer to that goal.”
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Thank you for taking part in our commenting section. We want this platform to be a safe and inclusive community where you can freely share ideas and opinions. Comments that are racist, hateful, sexist or attack others won’t be allowed. Just keep it clean. Do these things or you could be banned:
• Don’t name-call and attack other commenters. If you’d be in hot water for saying it in public, then don’t say it here.
• Don’t spam us.
• Don’t attack our journalists.
Let’s make this a platform that is educational, enjoyable and insightful.
Email questions to bhigdon@orourkemediagroup.com.