A recent forum quizzed Falls Church City Council candidates on what local governments can do to blunt ever-increasing costs of child care and preschool services in Northern Virginia.
It was, one incumbent noted, the first time the issue had been raised during a candidate forum in her memory.
Arlington County is the most expensive place in the United States for child care, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
It costs about $147,000 to foot the bill for five years of day care in Arlington — more than triple the country’s median cost of $44,000, according to the WSJ. The report highlights an everyday economic struggle for many Arlington households, local leaders say.
A Spanish immersion daycare center hopes to open this May in Virginia Square.
Tierra Encantada is preparing to open at 3804 Wilson Blvd, where Staples closed last February. It has a tentative opening date of May 19, Alexandria program director Angel Ricardez told ARLnow.
Ensuring access to affordable, high-quality daycare and early-childhood education has landed near the top of the Arlington County Board’s 2025 legislative wish list.
The cost of child care in Northern Virginia is “more expensive than college,” Board member Takis Karantonis said at the body’s Tuesday (Dec. 3) work session with members of the county’s delegation to the General Assembly.
Kinhaven School is set to return to its original home on Fairfax Drive following the Arlington County Board’s approval of a childcare center permit.
Formerly housed within Central United Methodist Church in Ballston, Kinhaven moved in 2017 to St. George’s Episcopal Church at 915 N. Oakland Street in Ashton Heights after its original site was redeveloped into a 144-unit affordable housing complex. That complex, at 4201 Fairfax Drive in Ballston, officially opened earlier this year and includes a new space for the church and room for a childcare center.
The Arlington County Board is considering a proposal for a childcare center on the third floor of the newly constructed Saint Timothy and Saint Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church (STSA) in Green Valley.
However, the proposal, introduced by the Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) in April, has raised concerns among nearby residents worried that the childcare center’s size and rooftop playground will create traffic and noise issues.
An uptick in childcare centers in Arlington has made a dent in the local care shortage, according to new county data.
Since 2017, the number of childcare center slots increased by 47%, or 1,690 slots. That may be good news for tackling low availability in Arlington — which stands out among Northern Virginia neighbors for how few slots it has — but one shortage remains.
The Staples store in Virginia Square is closing next month.
A sign posted on the entrance to the office supply store at 3804 Wilson Blvd says the location is closing on Feb. 23.
Plans to redevelop the Goodwill near Route 50 — with affordable housing, childcare and a new store and donation center — have received a relatively warm reception, per a recent survey.
Goodwill and AHC Inc. propose to replace the existing Goodwill Retail and Donation Center in the Alcova Heights neighborhood with a 6-story apartment building with 128 units of affordable housing, a new store and donation center and a 3,300-square-foot childcare facility.
A new development with affordable apartments, a church and childcare, across from the Ballston Metro station, is set to debut early next year.
Nearly two years ago, Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing broke ground on the long-delayed, $84 million project to replace the old Central United Methodist Church building at 4201 Fairfax Drive with an 8-story building with 144 committed affordable units.
A Staples in Virginia Square could become a Spanish immersion daycare and preschool for more than 100 children.
The proposed change in use for the 62-year-old, one-story commercial building has area residents and civic associations on edge about hours, traffic and noise.
When a contractor for Arlington County embarked on work to renovate a county-owned childcare building near Courthouse, it ran into some costly problems.
The county contracted with Landivar & Associates in December to oversee plans to update the Arlington Children’s Center (1915 N. Uhle Street), which has housed a childcare facility for county employees for several decades. It will be updating the building to meet current daycare standards, comply with the Americans with Disability Act and provide an interior refresh.
