DEERFIELD — In an effort to boost participation at Annual Town Meeting in April, Deerfield will offer child care for the first time to provide an opportunity for parents to make their voices heard.

Parents with children ages 4 and up will have the option to sign up for free child care from 6:30 to 9 p.m. during the April 28 Annual Town Meeting at Frontier Regional School. Staff from the Union 38 School District’s Out-of-School-Time Program will supervise the kids, provide snacks and organize activities. The sign-up form will be available from April 1 to April 21 and can be accessed at bit.ly/3FIdbDn.

The program has been spearheaded by residents Annette Pfannebecker and Janice James, members of the community group Engage: Deerfield. Pfannebecker said the idea of offering child care has long been discussed in town, but plans never solidified until this year.

“I’ve been in town for a long time and it’s always been an issue,” Pfannebecker said, adding that she and others felt inspired after seeing a family bring their young child to the October Special Town Meeting. “We just felt it was time and it was to give everyone the opportunity to be there.”

She said creating the program, which will run as a pilot program for its first year, came together thanks to collaboration among town officials, as well as Deerfield Elementary School Principal Tina Gemme, Superintendent Darius Modestow and Out-of-School-Time Program staff member Jeremy Wells.

The Selectboard approved the creation of the program on March 5. Selectboard Chair Tim Hilchey said child care was an “easy idea to remove a potential impediment” that could prevent some of Deerfield’s more than 4,000 registered voters from attending Annual Town Meeting.

In recent years, Town Meeting attendance has been fairly steady with around 300 voters packing the Frontier Regional School auditorium, with fluctuations depending on what topics are on the warrant. The town, Hilchey added, would like to see as many folks as possible attend Town Meeting because decisions made there affect all residents.

“We’ve been talking about trying to encourage more participation for a couple years at least,” he said. “Town Meeting is about setting the budget and the residents are essentially the local legislators. The more we can get people to come out, the better, and this was an easy idea to remove a potential impediment.”

Deerfield isn’t the first community in the region to offer child care at Town Meeting. Neighboring Conway, at least for the last several years, has provided child care during its Annual Town Meetings at Conway Grammar School.

If the program is even a mild success in its pilot format, Pfannebecker said she and the town are willing to organize it again next year because only a small amount of funding is needed due to folks’ willingness to volunteer.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.