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Together, we're supporting local families

Childcare is unavailable and unaffordable for many local families who need it most. We have a detailed, data-driven plan to meet the need with a childcare center at Ashland Business Park. Your gift will support local families and give kids a solid foundation for life. 

Our Initiative

Led by the Women’s Fund Steering Committee of Ashland County Community Foundation, the Women’s Fund Childcare Initiative aims to expand access to high-quality, affordable childcare in Ashland County. By starting a new childcare center in our city’s industrial park, we will create additional childcare spaces for families in our community who need them most. A newly-formed nonprofit organization, Foundations Community Childcare, will own and operate the center while striving to meet families’ needs for affordability and access.

Our $4.5 million goal includes construction and start-up costs as well as an endowment component. To date, we have raised more than $3.4 million, including grants and support from nearly 200 individual donors and businesses.

About the Center

Located on donated land in Ashland Business Park, Foundations Community Childcare is slated to open by the end of 2023. Our innovative funding model includes both income-based and employer-supported tuition assistance as well as grant funding and endowment. This will allow the center to operate sustainably while remaining affordable for families.

 

features

  • 3 acre site on Ford Drive cul-de-sac
  • Close proximity to 27 businesses with a combined 1,200 full time employees
  • Initial capacity to serve up to 150 children, infants through school age
  • Building designed at 12,400 square feet with room for expansion
  • Families’ needs will determine services, including non-traditional work hours
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Childcare barriers keep parents out of the workforce. 

  • Only 82 licensed infant and toddler spaces in our county
  • No Type B home-based care providers
  • No licensed childcare available past 6 p.m.
  • 2/3 of parents struggle to find care; 11% have turned down a job due to lack of care
  • Childcare for single parent with two kids = 74% of median income

Work collaboratively to build a new onsite daycare in our city’s industrial park, home to 27 businesses that employ 1,200 employees

  • Collaborative venture with innovative funding model
  • Plan is based on survey data from Ashland Business Park employees; 40% of employees surveyed meet 200% poverty threshold
  • Survey respondents who are “very likely” to use the center have a combined 214 children
  • 23 infant, 33 toddler, 39 preschool, 36 school-age spaces to be added
  • Hours of operation to include non-traditional work hours

We are well on our way to making our vision a reality, and our community’s enthusiasm for this project is palpable. To date, we have:

  • Secured strategic partners from various sectors of our community
  • Set measurable goals to ensure the center fulfills our vision for meeting families’ needs
  • Established a new nonprofit, with its own board of directors and EIN number, to own and operate the center
  • Secured property (3 acres donated on Ford Drive in Ashland Business Park)
  • Enlisted the help of a local construction company, which has provided preliminary site and building plans 
  • Created detailed budgets for construction, startup and operations
  • Launched a fundraising campaign ($3.2 million of $4.5 million goal raised)

Our plan will support families, develop our workforce, and impact our community.

  • Help parents enter/remain in the workforce, advance careers, provide for family
  • Provide children with safe, stable, educational environment to thrive
  • Help employers recruit workers, retain talent, reduce absenteeism, increase productivity
  • Allow Ashland to keep up with current growth and build workforce capacity for future growth
  • Make Ashland a more desirable place to locate/expand business
  • Create jobs at childcare center, plus student internships, volunteer and research opportunities
  • Community is lifted when businesses and families thrive

In the news: 

Watch the news segment reported by Camryn Justice and aired on WEWS News 5 Cleveland on July 22, 2022. 

Watch The Ashland Angle segment aired by WMFD in Mansfield on June 8, 2022. 

Read the article written by Barry Fortune and published by the Ashland Times-Gazette June 1, 2022.

Read the article “Foundations Community Childcare non-profit to open childcare center in 2023”  by Emma Davis, Report for America Corps Member, published by Ashland Source on April 9, 2022.

Short and sweet: 

View a one-page summary of four key aspects of the Women’s Fund Childcare Initiative: “The Issue,” “Our Solution,” “Our Progress,” “Economic Impact”

The whole picture: 

Review our full project proposal, a detailed document that likely answers any remaining questions you may have.

While the Women’s Fund is spearheading this initiative, we cannot bring our vision to fruition without support from a network of strategic partners and funding from generous individuals, businesses and grantmaking organizations.

Donations to the Women’s Fund Childcare Initiative pass-through fund may be made online here or by mailing a check with Women’s Fund Childcare Initiative in the subject line to Ashland County Community Foundation, 300 College Ave., Ashland, OH 44805. View our campaign pledge card.

Kristin Aspin

Chief Program Officer

Have a question about the Women's Fund Childcare Initiative? Contact Kristin Aspin.