Putting Together the Pieces of a Partnership

Each morning, Aria’s mom and dad head for work. Aria is four years old and needs a safe place to spend her days. Aria’s participation in a quality early childhood program would help her thrive today and increase her likelihood of high school graduation, college attendance, and earning potential as an adult. Aria is set up for success. She spends her day playing and learning at United Day Care Center with 80 friends ages six weeks to six years old.

United Day Care Center of Delaware County’s mission is to provide quality, holistic, affordable childcare, and early childhood education without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, or disability. Childcare is available to families of all income levels with lowincome families as the target population. The State of Indiana licenses United Day Care Center. They are a Paths to Quality Level 4 Provider. United Day Care Center also complies with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation standards.

We hope to create an atmosphere where children can learn and grow, and meet their full potential.

NAEYC accreditation is important because it verifies that the program quality meets the highest standards for child care and early childhood education.

Maintaining accreditation is also important because it is a requirement for United Day Care Center to contract with the State of Indiana, which provides childcare funding for low-income families. United Day Care Center will go through an in-person inspection in 2022.

The in-person inspection would evaluate both program quality and building condition. While United Day Care Center had maintained high-quality programming at the center, the building itself needed maintenance and repair.

In 2021, United Day Care Center had plans to refresh its building with updated flooring, fresh paint, ceiling and lighting upgrades, and new fencing. They were confident The Community Foundation could be a potential partner to support the flooring update.

“We hope to create an atmosphere where children can learn and grow, meet their full potential, be ready to enter kindergarten, and be successful,” said Carol Johnson, United Day Care Center Director. “Over time, carpet has frayed, and tile has chipped. New flooring creates a safer environment for the children and assists the Center in meeting licensing and accreditation standards.”

United Day Care Center planned to replace frayed carpeting and unsafe and broken tiles with hardwood laminate in all classrooms, the entry area, and offices. The flooring project came with a price tag of nearly $60,000.

Because of the timing of the request, no single grants process could fund the entire project; however, Foundation staff shared the request across programs with the hope that by putting the funds to work for the community, this entire request could be fulfilled.

In June, Carol Johnson started the application process on behalf of United Day Care Center. It began with a phone call to senior program officer Marcy Minton to explain the situation and the needs of the center.

As a program officer, Marcy’s role includes guiding nonprofits as they craft their grant applications.

“The Community Foundation is broad on purpose,” said Marcy. “We are home to many funds and programs with various purposes, which is great for the community but can be a challenge for nonprofit organizations to know what’s best. Staff can help them find the right partner path and navigate the various processes. Carol and I connected, and her project was a good fit for several of the programs at the Foundation.”

In June, Carol submitted a letter of intent to apply for funding for the quarterly competitive grants program. Community engagement officer Kallie Sulanke reviewed the letter from United Day Care Center and the other letters that arrived during that cycle. She works closely with advisors of donor-advised funds at The Community Foundation. As grant requests come to The Community Foundation, she shares concepts and ideas with donors whose interests align with the projects or organizations. She shared the request from United Day Care Center with a few donor advisors for funding consideration. A donor was interested, and United Day Care Center received $5,000 in donor-advised grants to support its flooring project immediately reducing the amount needed from other programs of the Foundation.

The Community Foundation approved $15,400 for the flooring project at United Day Care, the entire request through this process. However, that would only cover about a quarter of the needed funding.

Later that summer, Carol prepared and submitted two additional applications for funding, still confident the Foundation was the right partner for the request. One application was for the Maxon Foundation Fund and the second for the Harry and Janet Kitselman Fund. Each of those committees reviewed and evaluated the request, leaning on staff to make them aware of the intent or decisions of the other committees. Each application was successful, resulting in grants of $9,375 and $21,125.

The Community Foundation awarded United Day Care Center $50,900 in total from three grant programs and a donor advised fund to support the flooring upgrade. With the funding from Psi Iota Xi also in place, United Day Care Center successfully secured the funding needed to install new floors to keep their accreditation and, most importantly, a safe environment for the children.

“The flooring installation was complete in December,” said Carol. “The problems under the old flooring were corrected. There are no more bumps, cracks, or tripping hazards. It makes the center look very clean and modern.”

The work was accomplished without closing the center, ensuring Aria and her friends always had a place to go during the day. United Day Care Center will remain accredited with the new floor and other facility upgrades. It will be able to provide children just like Aria a safe place to learn and grow and ensure that Aria can meet her full potential and be ready to enter kindergarten next year.