ground in K-12 education, Shepherd had spent her time at the partnership learning about just how dire her county’ s child care needs were and developing relationships with a whole new sector of educators.
“ We just couldn’ t let them fold,” she said.
Shepherd’ s leadership was a gamechanger.
“ When she wouldn’ t give up, I wouldn’ t give up,” Phillips said.
Through a $ 15,000 grant from the Ormond Center, the church paid an architect for renderings, moving forward without knowing whether things would work. Through a stroke of luck, a local contractor was called in to do the building’ s measurements who was interested in bidding on the project. This time, the estimate came in at about $ 600,000.
“ Michelle says,‘ Don’ t give up,’ so it breathed new life into the possibility,” Cox said.“ Even though the church didn’ t have $ 590,000, Michelle— she deserves all the credit— she said,‘ Let me see what I can do.’”
Time crunch Everyone got busy. Hinson and Phillips asked their landlord for an extension on the move-out date. The church began a deeper process with the Ormond Center to map out the details of the project. Shepherd, with no fundraising experience, started making calls.
“ We all stepped out in faith that it would happen,” Hinson said.
The child care study helped Shepherd tell potential donors the story of the community’ s need, she said, and explain the importance of child care for workforce participation.
“ This was not some‘ Betty Froo Froo’ project; this was a necessity for our community,” she said.“ That really played on the heart of business people in the community.”
Hinson and Phillips got an extension from their landlord for their move-out date to November, and then to April 2025.
Once Shepherd received the first big“ yes”— a $ 250,000 donation from an anonymous community member— others started following.
“ That was my big driver, that we can’ t tell these kids,‘ You’ ve got to go home,’ and parents that they can’ t work that really want to work,” she said.
She reached out to people with a connection to PlayWorks, who understood the importance of the high-quality care and education it provided for children and families. She received donations from dozens of individuals, including a large contribution from private donor Janice Story and funds
from church members and partnership employees.
She also reached out to foundations and community groups, securing grants from the Carson Foundation, the Leonard G Herring Family Foundation, the Cannon Foundation, the North Carolina Community Foundation, and United Way of North Carolina.
The effort did not receive any local or state public funding.
“ All of a sudden, Michelle had almost a half a million dollars in a matter of almost weeks,” Cox said.
The Ormond process provided real estate and zoning expertise, as well as a video crew to help the community tell its story. It was rooted in“ asset mapping,” Maberry said.
“ We’ ve got a church with empty space, we’ ve got an incredible child care center that is flexible and can move, and we’ ve got a local nonprofit that’ s committed to the well-being of children in the county,” he said.“ Those are great assets. They can begin to look at,‘ OK, well, there’ s a child care crisis, and one of the better ones is about to go away. How do we solve that?’”
Shepherd said her mother was a salesperson, and always told her that salesmanship requires a good product and a powerful“ why.” She had both.
“ We had people that gave $ 50 up to
$ 250,000,” she said.“ It truly was a community, dollar-by-dollar fundraiser.”
Making it to opening day From November 2024 to March 2025, the team reached their goal. The local contractor agreed to start construction before all the funding was secured to help Phillips and Hinson reach their move-out deadline.
There were many obstacles. The team almost had to call off the project once
The child care study helped Shepherd tell potential donors the story of the community’ s need, she said, and explain the importance of child care for workforce participation.
again when they realized the extent of the plumbing needs to have appropriate sinks in each room. They coordinated between sanitation, the county inspector, fire safety, and the state child care licensing under the Division of Child Development and Early Education( DCDEE).
“ There was not a single source that you could go to who could give you all the answers,” Cox said.
PlayWorks closed on March 20 and 21, a Thursday and Friday, plus the following Monday. In that long weekend, they moved with the help of family and friends and set up every classroom. On Monday, the center had its final sanitation inspection and a visit from DCDEE. They opened their doors to children on Tuesday.
The execution of the move, Phillips said, was a miracle in itself. Through the months of ups and downs, she kept thinking of the families she serves and the educators she employs.
“ I kept going back to, how do we tell our staff? How do we tell our families? We are in such a child care crisis, there aren’ t spots available in many places in the other child cares. How can we disperse 60 children in this county? You know, where are they going to go?” ** This story was originally published in EdNC.
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