High-quality childcare is not only beneficial for kids and families, but is also beneficial to communities. Having ample access to childcare means that single parents can provide for their families and strengthen the local workforce. Jobs are also provided to those who have a heart for little ones and kids have a safe place to be while their parents are at work.
“There can never be enough childcare in a community…That’s one of the biggest needs in all of the rural communities is child care, right?” said Winnemucca Boys & Girls Club Director Nathan Green during an interview about the new Nevada gold Mines Early Learning Center that the Club is opening in September.
The Club is working with Nevada Gold Mines (NGM) and the Truckee Meadows Boys & Girls Club for funding and to address the needs of Winnemucca’s most dominant industry—mining—as well as other local industries that have parents working long or precarious hours, such as first responders, and single parents.
NGM Communications Lead for Elko Natacia Eldridge explained in an email that “One of our goals is to grow diversity within our workforce and this is one of the initiatives to attract and retain more women into the industry.”
The hours of the Early Learning Center will be from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., suited for those long shifts and commutes at the mines and will be accepting children as young as six weeks old to those as old as five years old. Kids will have access to three meals a day and snacks in between and the Center will even be providing formula for infants who need it, according to Green.
“With working moms and families and stuff like that we anticipate [kids] being at the Center for a bit, so we want to make sure we’re providing those things,” he said.
The facility is tentatively set to open in early to mid-September as construction officially winds up and the finishing touches are put into the five classrooms, multiple playgrounds, and other furnishings.
“It is our sincere hope that these childcare services can help alleviate stress felt by NGM parents when coordinating schedules while also providing added educational benefits,” explained Eldridge.
The Center will also be taking somewhere from 80 to 90 kids, but the exact number is determined by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public and Behavioral Health, according to Green, who said that obtaining proper licensing is the final step in the process before the doors open.
Green explained that it can take up to 30 days to receive the proper licensure from the State but he is hopeful that because of the significant need for childcare seen in Humboldt County that the state officials will make the approval a priority.
Many of the core staff members have also been hired that will work different chunks of the day in order to maintain the longer hours at the Center.
“We have our director hired. We have our assistant director hired. We have a program quality person hired which is somebody with a lot of daycare experience…And then as far as support staff, I think we’re up to eight or nine people hired there and we’re still looking to hire a few more spots to staff,” said Green.
This is also one of eight Early Learning Centers that the Truckee Meadows Boys & Girls Club has played a big hand in constructing so the design and practices are very well thought out.
“With Truckee Meadows help in doing this— this is their eighth one—they really took the lead on, you know, what’s doable, what we should try to stay away from and they thought that facility would be great,” said Green.
NGM has been a driving force in getting the facility built, putting in $ 1.5 million towards construction and education efforts, which will include science, technology, engineering, math, and early robotics, according to Eldridge.
NGM Executive Managing Director Peter Richardson said “NGM is proud to work with community partners such as the Boys & Girls Club of Winnemucca to find solutions for community issues. Reliable and affordable childcare is something that all working families depend on. The NGM Early Learning Center will not only serve NGM employees but also the community as a whole. We are proud to invest in such an important initiative to strengthen local communities.”
Visit the Winnemucca Boys & Girls Club website, www.bgcwin.org, join their newsletter and get more updates about the Early Learning Center.