Pittsford Village Farm awarded $400K for child care center

May 6th, 2022 | Story by Keith Whitcomb | Originally posted in the Rutland Herald

From right, Donna Wilson, Betsy Morgan and Joe Morgan with his dog Joe chat together on Friday morning at Pittsford Village Farm. The nonprofit group has been awarded federal grant money to develop the property into a community space including a day care center. Pittsford Village Farm already provides linkage to the Pittsford Trails system, a community garden, a playspace and a concert area.

PITTSFORD — With $400,000 in federal funding, the Pittsford Village Farm can make serious headway on the early childhood education and care center it wants to place in the middle of town.

“Our future is connected completely to the renovation of the 1798 farmhouse because everything we’re tied to now is out of doors,” said Betsy Morgan, one of the volunteers who makes the Village Farm run.

The 20-acre farm sits in the town’s village center not far from Kamuda’s Country Market and the Maclure Library. It was purchased in 2017 by Betsy Morgan and her husband, Baird Morgan, to be preserved and turned over into a 501©(3) nonprofit with the idea of it serving as a community center. Since 2019, it’s been an entertainment venue, meeting place, playground, hosted artist studios and galleries, a community garden.

According to Betsy Morgan, engineers and volunteers with engineering expertise guess that it will take $1.5 million to turn the 18th-century farmhouse into a functional early childhood education center, child care center and community center.

The $400,000 in congressional directed funding, though Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., office will help quite a bit, she said, but the farm’s board of directors will have to launch a capital campaign to raise funds.

“But it is federal (funding) and with that you get some of the challenges of the bureaucracy,” she said. “It takes a while for things in Washington to get moving, and it also functions in a different way. They don’t just dump a bunch of money on you, you have a lot to submit, and a lot of things to do in order to get that.”

The $400,000 was part of a $38 million package Sanders announced in early March.

“Over the years, I have spoken with thousands of Vermonters, and heard their excellent ideas about how to best use federal funds to help our state,” Sanders stated. “Through this congressional appropriations process, I had the privilege of working closely with Vermonters to secure funding that will help strengthen our communities. In these difficult times, this is an important step in the right direction. These projects, in my view, will ensure the federal government is working for our people and our communities.”

The other awards helped fund everything from a new child care center in Alburgh to dental care services in the state’s federally qualified health centers.

Betsy Morgan said there were community meetings in 2018 where people talked about what they’d like to see at the Village Farm, and child care was among the top suggestions.

“There’s a huge need for child care, especially in the Rutland area,” she said. “We would pull from the towns around us but also potentially from Rutland; people who work in Rutland and need to drop their kids off.”

Several contractors who’ve spoken to Village Farm volunteers have said they’re looking forward to the child care center opening because they need it for their own employees.

Morgan said the biggest need is for toddlers and infants, so the farm plans to serve 26 in that age group.

“And what’s great about our site is, it’s got outdoor potential because the big thing is an environmental education for kids,” she said. “They just love it because we’ve got all this land kids can not only be playing in but learning in.”

The statewide organization, Let’s Grow Kids, has also been helpful to the farm, granting it $50,000 recently to start the process. Morgan said the farmhouse needs a complete renovation, and some of the back parts don’t have a foundation.

Despite all that’s needed for the child care goals, the farm has served as a strong community hub for several years now.

“The property is open to the public and there is a very popular playscape ... it’s a little playground but for younger kids as opposed to the big playgrounds you see in a school. It’s extremely popular. Families come there with their kids and play in it all the time,” said Morgan.

The farm’s open acreage connects to the Pittsford Trail Network, another popular local attraction. It has hosted Tunesday concerts, which will be every Tuesday this summer starting June 21 through Aug. 16. There will be an open-air circus this year along with music from Caitlin Canty, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and more touch-a-truck events where kids can interact with large construction, emergency service and military vehicles.