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These days, it is more common to see daycares across the country permanently closing their doors. But one small town in Iowa is trying to reverse the trend: Earlier this year, Fairfield, Iowa welcomed its newest venture, the Cambridge Little Achievers Centre.
The 14,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art childcare center opened on January 16, and will eventually serve up to 185 children, ages six weeks to 12 years. That being said, the center is growing slowly, opening with around 20 teachers and staff welcoming around 60 children in the first weeks.
Image courtesy of Grow Fairfield Economic Development Association
the The childcare industry is in crisis—making the opening of a new daycare center newsworthy—and there has been little progress to address this problem at the federal level. After the collapse of his legislative agenda, the Biden administration looked for other ways to solve the problem. Recently, the administration announced that it should chip makers to provide employees with childcare to secure $39 billion in semiconductor facility construction incentives. But that’s a pretty narrow mandate, leaving much of the heavy lifting to local communities to fix the problem.
In Fairfield’s case, city officials, local businesses, and nonprofits raised $4.8 million over two years to build the Cambridge Little Achievers Center. Approximately 55% of the funding comes from private organizations while the other 45% comes from the public sector, a mix of state and local funding. The result: municipal magic.
While this type of public-private partnership is common for other types of municipal projects, it is less common in child care. Yet this model could be the key to solving the ongoing child care crisis plaguing parents across the U.S.
There is no quick fix
The Cambridge Little Achievers Center did not materialize overnight, its origins lie primarily in the current childcare crisis exacerbated by the pandemic.
In 2017, organizations including Grow Fairfield Economic Development Association and Early Childhood Iowa for Iowa/Jefferson/Keokuk Counties first came together with 50 businesses and community members to form a task force aimed at solving in the desert of baby care in the area. The Jefferson County Child Care Steering Committee was formed to help address the issue and lead projects. The following year, a commissioned study found that Jefferson County, where Fairfield is based, had a shortage of more than 500 child care spaces.
The working group has put forward a multi-pronged approach, first focusing on providing support and grants to existing childcare centers and home providers looking to start or expand. These combined efforts have resulted in just under 230 new or retained childcare slots, according to Joshua Laraby, executive director of the Grow Fairfield Economic Development Association.
“We’re in rural Iowa, among the cornfields, [yet] we have a history of strong public-private partnerships,” Laraby said, adding that the Little Achievers project is ripe for this type of collaboration. “Child care is economic development. This is workforce development. ”
That initial funding of existing child care programs did not provide enough additional slots, prompting the task force to move forward with plans for a new center.
What does it really mean to have a private-public partnership
When it comes to finding the $4.8 million needed to build a new center, local private organizations, businesses, and individuals footed most of the bill. Fundraising began in late 2019, with one of the first commitments coming from the Jefferson County Health Center. The local hospital pledged 3.5 hectares of land.
Organizers eventually gathered about 45 businesses, organizations, and individuals as financial partners who contributed funds ranging from $300 to $1.25 million, as well as donating in-kind professional services to help to start operation of the center.
Image courtesy of Grow Fairfield Economic Development Association
Five organizations pledged between $100,000 and $1.25 million, including lead donor Cambridge Investment Research, based in Fairfield. “One of our core values is commitment—and part of the higher definition of that is commitment to our community,” Amy Webber, president and CEO of Cambridge Investment Research, said. luck.
But helping to build a new community child care center also makes good business sense, he said. “We want the best and brightest talent to feel like they can go to work and know they have quality childcare they can count on,” she said. “Wouldn’t our products and services be better if we did that?”
Since Webber started in Cambridge more than two decades ago, he said the company has always asked employees for feedback on what benefits and policies would be most helpful. “Child care has always been in the top three for as long as I can remember,” she said, adding that child care is not a new problem for working parents. When her children were young, her husband chose to withdraw from the workforce for a time to manage caregiving responsibilities.
Cambridge considered building its own child care facility on the site, Webber said, but the investment firm was concerned about the impact on the small community. Will operating one’s own child care center negatively affect existing daycares and community home providers? That’s why being part of the community childcare project seems like the best option. In addition to Cambridge’s leadership, TrafFix Devices, Agri-Industrial Plastics Company, Dexter Laundry, and the Greater Jefferson County Foundation also made six-figure pledges ranging from $100,000 to $500,000.
On the public side, the state of Iowa provided approximately $1.5 million in grant funding for the project. Meanwhile, the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors provided $400,000 thanks to funds from the American Rescue Plan, and the City of Fairfield provided $280,000—about $250,000 from its own American Rescue Plan funds and another $30,000 obtained from the local option sales tax. .
Area businesses and organizations have made a five-year pledge, so donors can repay the fund over time. But in an effort to get the childcare center up and running in a timely manner, two local banks—Iowa State Bank & Trust Co and Libertyville Savings Bank—stepped in to finance the center’s construction. The annual pledge payment means that the cost of building the center will be paid off in full within five years, debt-free, Laraby said.
“All of our community partners are in this together, and it’s great to see everyone come together for the greater good,” he said.
Advance
On the one hand, the management committee achieved its goal of providing more access to child care for county residents. But opening the center is only the starting point. Keeping it open, especially given the razor-thin operating margins of the childcare industry, is another matter entirely. Not to mention addressing broader concerns such as affordability and the ongoing staff shortage.
The Cambridge Little Achievers Center is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, which makes it eligible for a variety of grants. But the $4.8 million raised for the project was allocated directly to construction costs—not to offset any of its operating budget.
We want the best and brightest talent to feel they can work and know they have quality childcare they can count on.
Amy Webberpresident and CEO of Cambridge Investment Research
“We’re doing an incredible amount of research but also doing our best to make sure this center is financially sustainable,” Laraby said. “We provide a service, but at the end of the day, whether you’re a for-profit entity or a nonprofit entity, financial sustainability is very important.”
At this point, Laraby says it’s a bit of a wait-and-see process to see if this model will sustain itself. Local employers have the opportunity to purchase childcare slots for their workers, which can be an additional income stream.
“We can’t promise we won’t come back for more questions [to financial partners]but we believe we are working very hard on our financial model to be as self-sustaining as possible,” Laraby said.
If it succeeds, the Cambridge Little Achievers Center will be a model for other communities with child care deserts to follow. Laraby said state officials have noted that the process is already being considered by other municipalities.
“This is a victory, and we should all be celebrating and not just in rural Iowa,” Webber said, although he acknowledged there will always be the next hurdle in child care.
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