Less than a week after Camp Jorn closed its childcare center, Mike McKeon was organizing meetings with local families and community members about finding a solution.
McKeon is a former Camp Jorn board chairman and a strong advocate for childcare.
“The first meeting we had was at Camp Jorn to talk to the Board of Directors at Camp Jorn. From that meeting came the offer from me to organize the families,” said McKeon. “Right after that meeting, 35 families approached me and said, ‘We'd like to be part of whatever you've got in mind.’”
With no other daycare options within 30 miles of Manitowish Waters, McKeon said they knew they had to create a new one, and quickly.
He’s been using his background and connections in the childcare industry to plan for a new one.
“What we've learned is that you do need community support. The grants come and go. One year you have plenty of grants, and next year you don't have any grants available,” he said.
“You need community support. The community needs to understand that it's important to have a childcare facility in town.”
McKeon believes that support is there. He says he saw it for the previous childcare center and is hopeful he’ll see it for the new one.
“If we're going to attract young families up into this area, we need to have childcare for these young families. You know how important they are to the, not just the community at large, but in general. You've got to have young families, otherwise our service industries and everything up here in the Northwoods is going to suffer,” said McKeon.
Named the ‘Little Forest School’, organizers want it to be a place to provide safe and affordable childcare that promotes play-based learning and nature exploration.
Organizers have laid out a two phase plan.
Phase one is to address the immediate needs. Little Forest School has already been incorporated and established a board of directors.
They’ve already secured at temporary location at the Manitowish Waters Presbyterian Community Church and applied for 501c3 non-profit status.
As they go through the licensing process, they’re already recruiting staff.
“We want to make sure that the teachers that we hire are well paid, that they look at this as a career and not just a job. We want to make sure that they have full benefits, including retirement, because we want good teachers. We want good long term solutions to childcare,” said McKeon.
Manitowish Waters is hardly alone in losing childcare. The state estimates it’s under capacity by as much as 33,000 children.
McKeon is fully aware of the challenges that come with running a childcare facility, calling it a terrible business model.
“You have regulations put on you as a childcare with a number of teachers to the number of students, yet you want to pay your teachers well, and yet you want to keep it affordable. That's a tough thing to do,” said McKeon. “But again, if we didn't have a great community and people that were behind us, it probably would not work.”
McKeon says they’re applying for grants and will be able to accept donations once their nonprofit status is approved.
McKeon hopes to have the new childcare center open in early February.
Phase two is the long-term, sustainability of the facility.
Little Forest School will be looking to secure land for a permanent, centrally located facility.
They want to collaborate with local organizations, schools, and businesses to expand resources and programming.
To learn more about Little Forest School or how to get involved, visit https://littleforestschool.net/, or email Info@LittleForestSchool.net.
