photo by: Contributed

A rendering of the north side of the building at 346 Maine St., showing the Family Resource Center.

A nonprofit that is trying to help fill an estimated shortage of 2,500 childcare slots in Douglas County, has two new projects coming online soon.

The Lawrence-based Community Children’s Center has announced partnerships with two new childcare providers that ultimately will be able to provide services to at least 140 children in Douglas County.

The nonprofit CCC has announced that its Early Childhood Community Center at 346 Maine Street is scheduled to open in June. The center has been in the work for two years, and recently created a key partnership to bring a new children’s therapy service to the community.

According to a newsletter from the CCC, the organization explored a collaborative model to sustain the child care piece of the project, and decided to partner with Creating Connections – which helps families identify disruptive and challenging behaviors in their child and help develop a plan for reducing problem behaviors.

Creating Connections currently operates three locations in Johnson and Wyandotte counties, offering applied behavior analysis, speech therapy, and occupational therapy in settings where children interact with their peers. Recently, it expanded its services to include child care and preschool programs, aiming to provide all children with the chance to learn from one another while receiving support from their team.

“Creating Connections is anticipating at least 69 kids being able to be served there,” Executive Director of the CCC Kim Polson said. “We really are going to have to get through the first year of service of being open at 346 Maine for us to really have a sense of the range of service that we’ll be able to provide.”

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The location of the Early Childhood Community Center will be at 346 Maine St.

photo by: Contributed

A rendering of a classroom at 346 Maine St.

There will also be a Family Resource Center located at the facility, which provides assistance to parents and caregivers in the county. It will offer access to the organization’s clothing closet for children sizes 0-6T, diapers and wipes, and maternity clothing as well. The closet is currently located at 1605 Davis Rd., but it will be transferred to the new location on Maine St. once renovations are complete. Additionally, the resource center will be offering Grow and Go playgroups, free sessions that are designed to foster creativity and curiosity in children, among other resources provided by the CCC.

Creating Connections will offer care and education for children ranging from infants to six-year-olds, along with speech, and occupational therapies, parent training, and behavior intervention. This will not only increase child care capacity in Douglas County but also provide essential support for children with autism and other developmental differences, as highlighted in the newsletter.

The nearly 70 new childcare slots that will come from the project also are important in an overall goal to address what one study says is a major shortage of childcare options in Douglas County.

According to Child Care Aware of Kansas, Douglas County’s current early-childhood education capacity only meets 49% of the demand for child care slots. The agency has determined that 2,531 additional child care slots are needed for parents in the workforce with children aged 6 and younger.

The CCC’s second project will help address that gap in the next few weeks. The CCC has reached a deal with an Ottawa childcare provider to begin operating in a vacant building at 4640 W. 27th St. next month.

The site previously was home to One of a Kind Progressive Early Education, but it abruptly closed in April 2024. The closure left many families without child care and placed additional pressure on other providers to accommodate the growing demand for childcare in the community.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

A new childcare facility will be located at 4640 W. 27th St., operated by Emerald Learning Center, LLC.

The building had fallen into disrepair after sitting empty for nearly a year. The CCC received a grant from the Child Care Capacity Accelerator program through the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund to get a temporary lease for the facility, while it looked for an operator to move into the space.

CCC leaders have announced that Emerald Learning Center, LLC, based in Ottawa, has signed a five-year lease agreement to establish a new licensed child care facility in the building. The new center expects to open April 1 and serve 78 children. While the CCC is providing assistance in opening the facility, Emerald Learning Center will operate the center.

The new projects are coming at a time when many nonprofit agencies have faced funding worries over federal funds they receive to support projects. The CCC is receiving federal funding through different grant awards, including a $4.9 million capital projects fund grant dedicated to the renovation at 346 Maine St. and the CCC is planning to apply for $112,000 to fund staffing for the Family Resource Center.

Additionally, the CCC received $140,000 in funding for a shared services network hub for early childcare providers, which supports providers in a 16-county area in northeast Kansas to offer HR services, professional training, and a library of education materials to support child learning and development, all of which can be accessed through the program.

Thus far, federal funding problems haven’t developed for the organization, leaders said in a recent newsletter sent to community stakeholders.

“As injunctions and lawsuits surrounding this issue continue, we are happy to report that federal dollars are still being distributed to CCC on a regular basis and business is proceeding as usual,” the newsletter said.

For people interested in learning more about the upcoming projects, they can get in contact with the Family Resource Center, visit communitychildrenks.org. People can also learn how to get involved with Creating Connections at creatingconnectionskc.com.