COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Plans are moving ahead to open a Branch County Early Education Childcare Center by the end of 2019.
The effort is being spearheaded by the Branch County Community Foundation and Branch County Great Start along with a collaborative group of over 20 supporting partners. The childcare center for newborns up to the age of 12 would be located in Coldwater in the former Branch County Mental Health/Pines Behavioral building on the corner of Michigan Avenue/Orleans Boulevard.
Amy Galliers, Great Start Executive Director, presented an update on the project at Tuesday’s Coldwater Noon Rotary Club meeting. She said there is a desperate need for more childcare in the county.
According to Galliers, people are turning down job offers because they can’t find childcare for their children. She said currently in Branch County, for every one childcare spot, there are 32 children waiting for that spot and as a result, Branch County is considered in Michigan a childcare desert for our area.
The project plan includes a capital campaign to raise between $1.8 million and $2 million for renovation for the childcare building and the center’s initial operations with the Branch County Community Foundation acting as fiduciary for philanthropic capital.
