Less than a year after beginning the project, the Milford Childhood Learning Center officially welcomed the community through its doors with a ribbon cutting ceremony May 5.
The center will serve around 56 children from infants through age 5, beginning with a smaller number this summer and growing enrollment into the fall.
“I truly would love to thank Bellwood Mennonite Church. They were the first to really buy into this project,” said Kylie Schildt, MCLC project manager. “I went to them with nothing but a PowerPoint. They leased us the land for a dollar for 50 years.”
Schildt started the MCLC because childcare wasn’t available for her young family. The more she researched, the more she found other families were in need of care, too.
With one other licensed childcare center and limited in-home providers in town, she realized Milford had a 50% deficit for care of kids ages 0-5 and a 90% deficit for infants, meaning licensed spots just weren’t available for the number of kids needing care.
Two in-home providers retired in early 2023, eliminating 24 spots.
Countywide, Seward was lacking at least 189 spots.
The MCLC is the third new childcare center that has opened this spring. With their combined capacity, the three centers have closed that 189-spot gap.
Schildt assembled a board of directors that will oversee the center and run it as a nonprofit.
Partnerships with Bellwood Mennonite Church, Southeast Community College, the Rod and Kathi Schildt family and other community members helped bring the center to life.
Sen. Jana Hughes attended the ribbon cutting ceremony and counted the opening of the center as a win for the entire state as it works through the childcare crisis.
“In every district, every county across Nebraska, this is a huge problem. As a senator, it’s cool for me to say, ‘District 24 is taking care of it.’ It takes neighbors helping neighbors,” Hughes said.
Kathi Schildt will serve as the interim director until enrollment numbers warrant the hiring of a full-time director in the fall.
Three teachers have joined the MCLC team, as well.
Sami Ahlers will teach preschool. She previously taught at two childcare centers in Lincoln. Kim Stauffer will lead the infant classroom with 18 years of in-home childcare experience. Tori Wergin will serve as float staff, working across all classrooms as needed.
Additional teachers will be added as enrollment increases.
Board members include Rev. Tim Springer, Dr. Brandon Henley, Katie Spohn and Dave Welsch.
Kylie Schildt said the board took into account trending statistics in the childcare workforce, noting a 30% turnover following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to First Five Nebraska.
“We looked at what makes it a good place to work,” Kylie Schildt said.
That meant considering everything from the quality of furnishings to creating competitive pay under the nonprofit model.
So far, she said 47 potential teachers have expressed interest in working at the MCLC.
“Rates and wages is the biggest juggle,” she said. “To be able to pay teachers what they deserve while keeping it affordable for parents.”
The total cost of the project is $1.2 million, with fundraising still going on to close out the final $100,000 needed for a debt-free building. Additional funds will be raised for a scholarship program to assist those who need care but can’t afford it.
The center’s classrooms are designed for infants, toddlers and preschool age students.
It will use the Learning Beyond Paper curriculum, which features different themes each quarter with activities, songs, books and crafts each day.
Kylie Schildt said the center will help identify students who need early intervention to set them up for success at the two preschools in town, Bellwood Montessori School and Milford Elementary.
“Early intervention is more likely in a licensed setting,” she said.
As of May 1, the center had 78 kids on its list of those interested in enrollment, and 13 had already enrolled. All of them were age 5 or under, and all but three were local to Milford.
The center will open on a limited basis at the beginning of June and plans to be fully operational in August.
