Filling a desperate need

MT. PLEASANT - A new child care facility is coming to the Mt. Pleasant community. The Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance announced Tuesday afternoon the establishment of the Mt. Pleasant Community Childcare Board.

The board will be responsible for establishing a nonprofit community child care center as well as addressing after-school care needs of the community.

Perry said she expects an announcement on the center to come within the next month. Currently, the board is negotiating for a space in an established location and hopes to have the center ready to take in children as early as next spring.

Next steps for the board include developing a working business model and funding strategy for the center as well as hiring a director of staff.

Kristi Perry, executive vice president of the Chamber, said while the county has several existing facilities, there still is a need for more child care seats.

During the announcement, Perry noted that Mt. Pleasant has a total of 201 registered child care seats available to 1,041 children under the age of 11. From 2014 to 2019, the county saw a 51 percent loss in registered child care programs, going from 41 to 20.

Mt. Pleasant has gone without a licensed child care center since 2011 when the Owl's Nest closed.

The community has been working on the issue for several years. Discussions on how to address the issue began in March when business leaders and community members came together to consider possible solutions.

At the time, the group decided on a three-pronged approach which included providing support to existing in-home providers, starting an awareness campaign and establishing a nonprofit board responsible for establishing a center.

Perry added the announcement is 'so exciting for the community.” She said the community already has 'many established in-home providers,” but with limited seats, the new center will benefit the growth of the community.

'Our in-home providers know people and people know them but for those coming into town who may not have those connections - it can be very limited where you can go,” Perry said.

From an economic standpoint, Perry said businesses have historically struggled to hire and recruit employees due to the child care shortage.

'It's really stopped some of our growth in the community. With this center, hopefully it will be easier on employees to hire and for people to relocate [to Mt. Pleasant],” she said.

Mt. Pleasant Community Childcare Board President Sarah Donnolly, who has three children under the age of 11 and works in human resources at the Walmart Distribution Center, said she has known child care to be an issue since she moved to Mt. Pleasant in 2011.

'I was lucky my mother-in-law does child care and that was a major factor of us moving here,” she explained.

With her position in human resources, Donnolly said she has seen firsthand how the shortage affects parents and specifically women in the workforce. Iowa loses an estimated $935 million annually due to a lack of child care and nearly 70 percent of parents in the state rely on family members for at least some child care, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Kelsey Maynard, vice president of the board, brought her 5-week old son, Addison, to the announcement. As a first-time parent, Maynard said she understood the struggles of finding child care in the area.

'Knowing that we were having a little one and that it was so difficult to find day care, especially if you don't have a child yet, was something we saw coming. As your first child, it's very difficult to establish finding a day care whether its in-home or debating if you want to drive to New London,” she said.

Secretary of the child care board Kadie Johnson added that the child care center will be important to the longevity of the community. Johnson, whose daughter, Everly, currently goes to in-home day care, intends to send Everly to the center when it opens.

'If we want to have the robust community that we have, we have to invest in our youngest citizens, and right now I feel like we're sort of doing it, but we're not to the point where it's easy for young families to move to Mt. Pleasant and to start their lives here,” she said.

Other board members include Treasurer Mary Koontz, Kevin Dameron, Jordie Dingman, Dawn Dunnegan, Lynn Humphreys, Don LeBlanc, Jennfier Lehman and Jennifer Moutrie.

For more information on the board and the development of the child care center, email kids@mpiowa.org for updates.