Award aids Trumansburg Nursery School expansion

On Dec. 19, the state announced that its Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative awarded over $13.8 million in grants to Tompkins County organizations. Among the projects that received funds included Trumansburg Community Nursery School’s (TCNS) expansion project.

According to the official report released from the state, the $250,000 award will allow TCNS to construct a new building to house an expansion of its current parent cooperative preschool. The new building will allow TCNS to add classrooms, extend hours for working families and expand community programs and partnerships in Trumansburg.

TCNS has been working toward expansion for more than 20 years, said Debra Austic, director of TCNS.

“It became apparent that families were unable to join our program because of our limit to half day,” she said. “With more parents working and going to school, we needed to offer more schedule flexibility for families.”

Austic said the expansion didn’t come easily, as so far, all the work has been done with a volunteer board, a tight budget and mostly part-time staff. She said this was to keep TCNS’s prices consistent.

“We didn’t want to compromise the quality or affordability of our current program in order to save for expansion,” Austic said.

TCNS’s partnership with Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services and the Crescent Way development made this possible, Austic said, as the partners provided a lot of support and planning and helped with the grant process.
TCNS and its staff are very excited to have received the grant.

“I believe it’s as much as we’d hoped for … and will be a critical piece to supplement construction and purchase equipment,” Austic said.

The next step is final approval for the project from the village, and INHS will be applying to the state for additional funding. Austic estimated completion in the fall of 2022, and she looks forward to the good the project will bring to the village and the rest of Tompkins County.

“The benefits to Trumansburg and the county will be additional preschool and toddler care, both half day and full day, up to 46 children each day,” she said. “For village residents, the location is a block from the public school and easily walkable.”

The new building will be handicap accessible, and Austic said the school hopes to include senior citizen volunteers in the classrooms. In addition, TCNS will be hiring more teachers, which will add living wage jobs to the community.

“We’re most excited about the ability to welcome more families to TCNS,” Austic said. “Not only will we have additional classrooms and space for more students, but expanded hours will meet the needs of more families.”

The expansion of community programs is another boost to the community, Austic said.

“We currently offer a toddler story time to the community but are looking forward to also offering play groups and parenting workshops to help families connect to each other,” she said. “As a parent cooperative, that’s an important part of our mission. I’m also hoping we’ll be able to start a community garden project for residents living near our new school.”