One of the biggest grants that was awarded by Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation for this year’s granting cycle went to a non-profit child care organization.

The Greene County Early Learning Center will receive a $125,000 pledge for four years from the gaming license holder for Wild Rose Casino and Resort in Jefferson. The childcare organization recently announced a new building project that will cost $2.7 million. Early Learning Center Director Cherie Cerveny explains the benefits of having a new facility.

“We believe that a new facility is an economic development necessity. The new facility will have an environment designed to support and enrich early childhood education, we will be able to expand and take in 60-percent more children than we take now, and we’ll be able to provide an enhanced technology infrastructure.” 

Cerveny notes the Early Learning Center was established 15 years ago and has served over 850 two-week to ten-year-old kids from over 350 families. Along with the $500,000 pledge from GGCGC, the Greene County Board of Supervisors have also made a financial commitment of $250,000 from the County’s Local Option Sales and Services Tax (LOSST) funds. The new building is proposed to be perpendicular to the existing building on Madison Street.  

According to Iowa Women’s Foundation Executive Director Dawn Oliver Wiand, they have partnered with other organizations for the development of the Building Community Child Care Solutions Collaborative program. It allows for 30 communities, including Jefferson, to explore innovative ways to exchange ideas among businesses and community leaders, employees and other organizations to promote child care investments such as the new building project in Jefferson.