Capstone to Open New Integrated Service Center and Childcare Center

Capstone to open new Integrated Service Center and Childcare Center serving all of Lamoille County

MORRISVILLE – Capstone Community Action announces plans to open a new integrated service center in Morrisville. This new center will strengthen Capstone’s services to Lamoille County residents, helping individuals and families in crisis to stabilize their lives and working to elevate households out of poverty.

The center will host Capstone’s core services in Lamoille County, including housing counseling and homelessness prevention, emergency heating assistance, financial capabilities coaching, VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and Head Start home visitors and family partners. It will give Capstone the opportunity to more effectively provide other core organizational services in Lamoille County as well, such as asset building, micro business development and weatherization services. In addition, the center will feature a childcare center with three Head Start classrooms, accommodating 30 Head Start eligible children and 15 tuition students.

As part of the agency’s ongoing planning, Capstone worked with Brown Buckley Tucker to have a comprehensive community needs assessment conducted in 2016.  This assessment found that in Lamoille, thirteen percent (13%) of families with children ages 0-4 live in poverty. In five of ten towns the rate ranges from 17%-27%. Furthermore, fifty-five percent (55%) of families headed by a single mother live in poverty, compared to the statewide rate of thirty-eight percent (38%). Despite the economic growth in the region, the number of people Capstone has served over the last five years has increased ten percent (10%).

“Knowing the growing needs in Lamoille County, when the opportunity came along to leverage federal funding to increase services, we immediately seized upon it to benefit this area,” remarked Dan Hoxworth, Executive Director of Capstone Community Action. “Our new integrated service center reflects our agency’s commitment to strengthen our services and develop even more partnerships in Lamoille County.”

The center will be located on Industrial Drive, neighboring Puffer Childcare and Preschool. Capstone and Puffer are currently collaborating on childcare for children, birth-to-three years old, and are looking to expand their partnership through the new center. Capstone is actively working with Lamoille County Mental Health to provide important resources to children in the childcare center, as well as other vital community organizations to collectively meet the community need.

High-quality childcare and early education are essential to a child’s development. Children living in poverty are less likely to access these opportunities which often have lifelong implications and foster generational poverty. Capstone takes a two-generation approach, working to strengthen and empower families to break this cycle and create more sustainable households and communities.

“We are very excited about this project,” states Howard Manosh, whose company, H.A. Manosh Corporation, is building the center. “Capstone does a great job and provides so many services. It’s great to see them expand their presence here. We look forward to a long standing relationship.” Manosh anticipates construction to begin in June and be operational this fall.

Last December Capstone received a grant from the Head Start that will cover the majority of start-up costs of the center. Capstone is raising $300,000 to fill the remaining funding gap. Mr. Manosh has generously made the first commitment of nearly $50,000 for the playground and fencing. “We are thrilled to be working with H.A. Manosh and are grateful for Howards’ generous support of this project,” remarks Hoxworth. “We look forward to working with the community to fund this important project and the impact it will have on the lives of our friends, families and neighbors.”

Capstone is pleased to have the support of many local leaders for its new center and expanded services:

“I am delighted to see Capstone moving forward with the building of a new facility that will provide a truly integrated service center for Lamoille County residents,” states former state senator Susan Bartlett.  “One of their important expanded services will be more high quality child care programs for kids and their parents. For years they have helped make families stronger and have helped many move out of poverty to more secure futures. They are terrific community partners.”

“I support the efforts of Capstone to provide the multitude of services to the community of children in need,” states Sheriff Roger Marcoux. “Let’s give kids every chance to succeed by working together.”

“Capstone provides crucial services to our community’s most economically vulnerable families, be they seniors on fixed incomes or young families,” remarks former Speaker of the House, Shap Smith. “I am enthusiastic about their new Center and the commitment it shows to Lamoille County. This new center will further strengthen their efforts to stabilize the lives of individuals and families and support them to achieve greater personal and financial wellbeing. Lamoille County is lucky to have a number of organizations who have a long history of supporting our youngest community members and their parents.  The new onsite Childcare Center will bring another invaluable resource to this critical mission.”

“Capstone Community Action is a valued partner in Lamoille and their proposed new facility will support expanded opportunities for child care and integration of their current programming,” states Scott Johnson, Executive Director of Lamoille Family Center.

Capstone Community Action was founded in 1965 and works to alleviate the suffering caused by poverty and to create economic opportunity for people and communities.  Capstone’s programs include emergency food assistance, emergency heat and utility assistance, housing counseling including homelessness intervention, transportation assistance, community economic development, weatherization services and child and family development programs in Early Head Start/Head Start. We serve more than 15,000 people, including over 3,000 in Lamoille County, through these programs each year. http://www.capstonevt.org.