After a year of operation, Little Lakers, a nonprofit child care center is booming with a waiting list nearly a year long. It is filling a critical need for working parents in this rural part of Minnesota.
The center opened with the support of $725,000 from the USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Program and support from First Children’s Finance, an institution focused exclusively on a sustainable child care supply through loans and business development assistance to child care businesses serving low- and moderate-income families. They run the Rural Child Care Innovation Program and currently lend in 11 states.
With 2,539 people, The town of Lake Crystal, Minnesota had a big need for child care, and now their 91 child care slots are completely full.
