Head Start is coming to the Oregon State University-Cascades campus. On September 8, it’ll take over three of six classrooms in the 7,200-square-foot building that formerly housed the university’s Little Kits Early Care & Education Center, which abruptly closed its doors in July, citing “ongoing financial challenges.”
Head Start is a federal program that provides an umbrella of services for low-income families and children. The Head Start program at the OSU-Cascades building, located near the intersection of SW Chandler Ave. and Mt. Washington Drive, will serve approximately 33 children, with two classrooms for children ages 0-2 and one classroom for children ages 3-5.
“It’s a work in progress, and while I’m very excited that we are able to do this for our little portion of the world between Head Start and OSU-Cascades. I don’t want to forget about all those struggling families out there who are trying really hard to find extra slots and to find affordable slots,” said Scott Cooper, executive director of NeighborImpact, which runs the HeadStart program that serves more than 600 children in Deschutes County. “To make this work, I think that it’s going to take all of us as a community of both higher education and service providers and the private sector figuring out a way to solve this unsolvable problem, because if we’re going to have the workforce that we want in our community, if we’re going to give people that opportunity to reach their full fulfillment, we have got to have reasonable, affordable, accessible childcare options. It is a utility that we do not have in this region at the moment.”
Along those lines, Dr. Christine Pollard, interim chancellor and dean for OSU-Cascades, said the university will seek out a second provider that can offer childcare services in the former Little Kits building. There are several interested parties, she said, and the university will continue to take additional solicitations. However, she added that no additional childcare provider would be in place until at least early 2027.
Tuesday’s announcement follows the sudden closure of Little Kits on July 2, after opening in August 2025 in a newly constructed building that garnered around $3.3 million in federal funds. It provided paid daycare services for infants through 5-year-olds and workforce training for OSU-Cascades students. The Head Start program plans to serve 33 children and will offer approximately eight internships to students from OSU-Cascades and other universities.
OSU-Cascades officials, in an online press conference Tuesday, said university officials had been talking with NeighborImpact for about 15 months, but hadn’t formalized talks for Head Start to take over part of the building until the last several weeks. NeighborImpact will pay 67 cents per square foot for the approximately 2,300 square feet it’s leasing long-term from OSU-Cascades — or roughly $1,541 per month. According to Pollard, the “market average” is $4.10 per square foot.
Head Start typically serves children whose families fall below the federal poverty guidelines, which for 2026 is $21,640 for a family of two, $27,320 for a family of three and $33,000 for a family of four. However, Cooper indicated that there would be spots for children from families who are above those levels, adding that the program does require families to volunteer.
“We do have a certain percentage of over-income slots that we can take,” Cooper said. “If they are interested in that placement and interested in taking on the family engagement opportunities that come along with enrolling in Head Start, then they certainly would be eligible to apply and would be considered for placement.”
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