Skyline Contractors Inc., of Spokane, has begun work on a $1.3 million facility that will house an Early Head Start center in Clarkston, Wash.

Early Head Start serves low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers. It promotes prenatal care, enhances development of young children, and encourages healthy family functioning.

The new Clarkston center, to be located at 1294 Chestnut Street, will be the Lewiston, Idaho-based Lewis Clark Early Childhood Program's second location in Clarkston, and will enable it to serve an additional 28 families and children beyond the 50 it already serves at its other center there, says the nonprofit's director, Dorlan Hergesheimer. The organization operates Early Head Start centers in five Idaho counties and in Asotin County in Washington.

Brotnov Architecture & Planning, of Clarkston, designed the two-level, 5,800-square-foot building. Skyline began work on it in July and expects to complete it by late December, says Mike Sauer, a contract administrator with Skyline.

Hergesheimer says the new building, which is scheduled for completion by mid-March, will have three classrooms and six offices on the upper level. An adult-education area and a commercial kitchen will be added on the lower level when additional funds become available.

Funds for the project have come from a federal stimulus grant and from a national Head Start office grant, Hergesheimer says.