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WYNOT – Parents with young children may often feel like they’re running through an obstacle course when it comes to securing childcare – maneuvering schedules, jumping from one caregiver to the next, all while precariously balancing career and family.
This childcare obstacle course is not unique in itself but those in the small Cedar County village of Wynot may have a much more difficult go at it as there are no licensed childcare centers and no licensed in-home daycare providers.
Zero. Zilch. Not one. While Wynot Public Schools offers a full-day preschool program for 3 and 4 year olds there still remains a childcare gap in the community.
Enter the parenting obstacle course. Some families are able to rotate care through friends and family members to fill their childcare needs. Other parents decide one of them will temporarily exit the workforce to care for young children.
Still others may find suitable childcare but in another community. For example, a Wynot family in which the mother and father both work in the Yankton, S.D., area, drive daily to daycare near Laurel.
“The amount of miles families have to put on just to get their child into the hands of care is pretty astronomical when you really think about it,” said April Heimes, Wynot.
The lack of childcare doesn’t just affect families, though.
The challenges ripple through the workforce, affecting employers and communities alike. The availability of childcare is one of the top factors analyzed when people and businesses look to move into new communities.
“When you have quality care, and dependability, your employees can come to work every day and perform better because they know their child is being well taken care of. It becomes full circle,” Heimes said.
Most importantly, studies have shown a child’s brain development is the most rapid within their first five years - a critical juncture for quality early learning opportunities.
Heimes and Cathy Eskens, Wynot preschool teachers, joined Cedar County’s Community for Kids Initiative more than two years ago. The duo started studying the issue, networking with others in the county and surveying their own community to come up with potential solutions to the local childcare crisis.
Other interested individuals have joined the cause over the years including Laurie Schulte, Paul Hans, Candace Burbach, Kim Borchert and Jim Hans, among others. Together they formed the Bow Creek Early Learning Center.
“Through time, we went back and forth with, do we build? What’s in the best interest of the community? What’s the most affordable? What can we create, build that will fill the need sooner rather than later? And also to be sustainable,” Heimes and Eskins said.
Originally, land was donated with the potential to build a duplex structure. But now, the former Donna’s Diner building is strongly considered as the site for the new childcare facility.
Tentative plans are to split the building into three separate childcare programs under one roof.
They will be considered micro-centers with the potential to serve up to 36 children total between the three units. Two adults can care for 12 children in each unit under current licensing guidelines. Most likely, the Bow Creek Early Learning Center will serve children from birth through age 5.
It’s a unique structure to meet families’ needs but also keep overhead expenses low.
“We want not just a place for kids to go but we want mom and dad to feel good when they’re leaving their kiddos there. They’re going to get loved, attention and quality care, It’s not just a dump them off and go,” Eskens said. “First and foremost, we want to be providing quality.”
The micro-center structure would be operated under the umbrella of the learning center non-profit board.
The childcare facility will be renovated and developed in phases with plans to get one micro-center operating smoothly before moving on to develop a second one.
“We’ve had lots of families reach out asking, ‘When are you going to open?’ The process is taking longer than essentially we would want but we want to do it the right way, too,” Heimes said.
Next, the group will develop their financials, admission policies, and employee handbook all the while working with a local contractor on transforming the former diner.
Some fundraisers have already been held including a few barbecue meals as well as a large golf tournament. A capital campaign may also be in the works to secure large donations for ongoing sustainability.
“Childcare isn’t a money- making business and it doesn’t really fit your normal business plan,” Heimes said with a significant shortfall between what families can afford to pay and what childcare professionals should be making as a livable wage.
Eskens said it’s up to the entire community to show support for the cause.
“Someone once said, your community will never stay the same. It will either grow or it will die. If we want it to grow, we have to support it,” she said. “What better way to support your community than by supporting our youngest community members.”
