Forest Hill Child Care Center has served families in our community for years, providing the kind of reliable, nurturing childcare that working parents depend on. But like childcare programs across the region, we face a growing challenge: how do we recruit and retain great teachers when the people caring for our children increasingly cannot afford to live in the communities they serve?

Childcare is essential infrastructure. Parents cannot work without it. Businesses cannot retain employees without it. And children deserve consistent relationships with skilled, caring teachers.

Yet childcare centers operate within an incredibly difficult financial reality. Families are already paying significant tuition, while the cost of maintaining a safe, high-quality program continues to rise. At the same time, childcare teachers—despite the importance of their work—often earn wages that make housing in neighborhoods like Forest Hill difficult or impossible to afford.

Forest Hill Child Care Center is located at the former Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, a property that is now transitioning into a community-centered space. As we think about the future of this property, we have an opportunity to do something creative and meaningful: explore the development of a small number of affordable or opportunity housing units on unused church-owned land, with priority given to childcare workers and other community-serving employees.

We are initially exploring approximately 10 units—not a large apartment complex, but thoughtfully designed housing that fits within the surrounding neighborhood and helps address a very real workforce need.

For our childcare center, access to nearby housing could mean:

Greater ability to recruit and retain experienced teachers.
Less turnover and more consistency for children and families.
Shorter, more manageable commutes for childcare employees.
More financial stability for the people doing some of our community’s most important work.
A stronger and more sustainable childcare center for the long term.
This project is still a vision, and there will be many conversations about design, financing, zoning, neighborhood impact, and who the housing ultimately serves. But we believe the idea deserves the opportunity to move forward and be fully explored.

This is about more than housing. It is about protecting childcare in our community.

Forest Hill Child Care Center wants to continue growing, serving families, creating quality jobs, and remaining a stable neighborhood institution. To do that, we have to think differently about how we support the teachers who make that possible.

By signing this petition, you are saying that you support exploring a small-scale workforce housing development at the Forest Hill property and believe that childcare workers deserve the opportunity to live closer to the communities they help sustain.

Please add your name and help us demonstrate that our community supports investing in childcare, our teachers, and the long-term future of Forest Hill Child Care Center.