A new endeavor to offer expanded childcare options and a coworking space in Leelanau County is in the beginning stages, however, there’s already a large backing of support to make the idea a reality.
Kendall Rose of Cedar, a mother of two young children herself, became a parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Living in a rural area significantly impacted her experiences in young motherhood and the parenting journey, where she was faced with several childcare gaps that affected both of her kids. It was in this period of Rose’s life that she began to envision a childcare model that would have supported her family’s needs in the early parenting years.
“It’s incredibly exciting. I do have a lot of friends and peers in the area with similarly aged kids, and a lot of them are so supportive of this idea,” Rose said. “There’s also just quite a bit of small business owners, particularly for the small business community, and they realize if you don’t have the support for family structures, you’re going to have a really tricky time retaining talent in the area, starting new businesses, and being able to just support families through all of these life stages that affect them from pregnancy all the way through until their kids can go to elementary school… that’s a long five year planning phase for families.”
For two years, Rose continued to hear from other parents in the community about the need for a drop-in model of childcare that would allow parents to choose their dates and times of greatest need while having easy access to resources. According to Rose, there is currently no center-based program in Southern Leelanau County that focuses on serving families with children ages 0-36 months in a flexible, non-tuition or enrollment based model. “The Aspen House” would aim to address this through the creation of a multi-generational, drop in model childcare facility with pay per hour rates and an affordable monthly membership for the families served.
“I found that everything got so much easier when my son turned 4, we had a plethora of options for preschooling — really high quality preschools in the area between Lake Leelanau, Benzie, and Grand Traverse County — there was not a place that we couldn’t get into if we wanted,” she said. “It’s just that 0-4-years-old timeframe where we’re completely underserved and there aren’t a lot of options.”
The Aspen House would focus on toddlers ages 0-3 and serve the whole family from preconception to the preschool years with on-site care, community spaces, coworking and independent workspaces, as well as rooms for independent parentcentered care services envisioned for the future. The whole family model would also aim to ensure that the growing number of families in South Leelanau County, North Benzie County, and West Grand Traverse County have an option that allows for flexibility, affordability, and resiliency.
“The Aspen House is here to create a third space that bridges the gap between home and center- based childcare so families can be part of an active community of other parents in the early childhood life stage,” the Aspen House Go Fund Me stated. “This space will serve as core social infrastructure located where Southern Leelanau, Northern Benzie, and west Grand Traverse Counties intersect for families to find the support of their village.”
Rose’s current Go Fund Me fundraiser launched in the last week, which already had 52 donations totaling $3,200 on Tuesday, is to secure a space for The Aspen House in 2024 with a goal to open doors by January 2025. Rose said the process for licensing a Group Child Care Center can begin only once a building is secured, and takes anywhere from three to six months to complete. The funds would help support that process over the next 10 months through purchasing or renting a space, licensing, inspections, business development, and staffing.
“I kind of set a target goal of $50,000 for a lot of the upfront costs for the purchase or lease of the space. I envision being able to purchase this space just because there’s so many licensing rules and regulations with a child day care center and with a group child care home,” she explained. “Right now, it’s 5% funded, which is so exciting, that happened overnight.”
While Rose said she has her eyes on a possible facility space in Empire, she’s open to other communities along the M-72 corridor as well.
“I’ve met so many young parents at the weekly (Glen Lake) library program, and that represents a lot of families in the Glen Lake school district,” she said. “I like Empire because it’s still within a 20 minute drive from Cedar, Maple City, and Lake Ann — All these bedroom communities of Traverse City that have seen a huge growth in single family housing and young families moving to the area, so I don’t want anyone to have to drive more than 20 minutes for a child care and coworking space.”
While in the beginning development phase of the process, Rose said she is currently looking into what’s available to her as someone with limited assets and income. She said she missed the window for the Leelanau Early Childhood Development Commission offering business support to people throughout the infant and toddler childcare startup initiative, but she is essentially looking for the same set of resources.
At this stage, she’s not sure if she’ll be able to secure a traditional business loan, so she’s researching other loans and grants she may be considered for.
“I’m anticipating there will need to be a significant amount of fundraising reserves available to match and be a part of this loan process,” she said. “This would be serving up to 12 children at a time… you have to have a physical space before you start the licensing process. Luckily for me I have some childcare now so I have time to think about this and to work on it whereas before I didn’t.”
To read more about Rose’s endeavor or to donate to her fundraiser, go to https://gofund. me/8c6da7eb.
