Bumble Preschool students watch as white pelicans are released.

To avoid raising prices for families, Bumble, an Astoria preschool provider, is seeking support from the community.

Bumble partnered with the city and took over operations of Sprouts Learning Center at the Astoria Recreation Center last year after the city announced plans to close the center due to a critical staffing shortage and operating at an unsustainable loss. The city offered the space to Bumble rent-free, along with ongoing maintenance support.

Bumble has since grown enrollment from about 20 children in July 2022 to about 70. The preschool has more than a dozen employees and serves more than 90 families, mostly in Astoria.

During an update to the City Council on Monday night, Amy Atkinson, who co-owns Bumble with Angie Jannusch, said that without the city’s support in offering the space rent-free, the business would not survive.

“We’re running a slim profit margin,” she said. “We are in black, but it’s worrisome for Angie and I to be two people carrying the weight of 90 families. And we would really like to find a way to have community buy-in.”

Atkinson said whether that support comes in the form of subsidies or donations, the preschool needs to find other sources of revenue aside from grants to support operations.

She said November tuition is being used to pay employee wages for October. “And we’d like that to be in reverse so that we’re sitting on something so if something happens we aren’t personally going to go under for this job,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson and Jannusch said that without community support, rates will have to go up.

Jannusch said the harsh reality of child care and early education is that the burden often falls on owners, families, teachers or the community. “The system is broken in the sense that it’s not valued at the same level as regular ed and it really should be,” she said.

Atkinson said Bumble charges $1,600 per month for basic child care, which she said is average in Oregon.

“That’s a lot,” she said. “We know this. But when you start adding in quality into the program — lower ratios, better equipment, larger spaces, happy staff members that are making more money because we can pay them a little bit more than what minimum wage is — you’re looking at $3,000 a month.

“So we have to look at our community and say, ‘What can our community afford? What do we want to offer? And how do we meet in that middle? What is that sweet spot?’”

Since opening at the city property, Bumble has added infant care, which is in high demand and expected to grow with the help of a grant.

Bumble’s business model has also shifted from part-time child care and preschool to serve full-time working families.

They said a large portion of the children have parents who work at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria. Other families work for the military, school districts, Clatsop Community College, Providence Seaside Hospital and local breweries.

City Councilor Elisabeth Adams said she appreciates Bumble’s dedication to paying living wages and providing a vital service.

She added that there could be opportunity for the business community to start supporting operations. “Especially when large numbers are coming from certain employers, you know, how do we tie that piece in and also ask for them to maybe bear some of that burden as well,” Adams said.