Boys & Girls Club hopes to open daycare
At a recent Ely City Council meeting, Councilor Ed Spear had an agenda item to approve a letter of support for the daycare offered by the Truckee Meadows Boys & Girls Club.
Spear said he was excited about the project. “When I first met Samantha Elliott I found out there was a huge need for child care so I was very happy to see it on the agenda.”
Mike Worm, executive director of the Truckee Meadows Boys & Girls Club, said that although Elliott recently left the Boys & Girls Club, Tony Enrique was here at Ely to replace him.
“I just wanted to make myself available, it’s something like Spear said, it’s a need statewide,” Worm said.
The letter explained how the club is willing to expand its local services to include this age group, which would be able to provide additional childcare options for children between the ages of six weeks and five.
The location of the project is the former Murry Street School located at 900 Murry Street. The project has an estimated cost of $ 1.5 million, including $ 925,000 to rehabilitate the building and $ 575,000 as seed money for the program.
There are currently only two licensed daycares in the area.
Magic Carpet Preschool would provide services to up to 42 students ages 3-5 from September through May, Monday through Friday. There is no income restriction for this program and there is an hourly rate for participants.
The second is Little People’s Head Start, which provides services to 86 students aged 0 to 5. These services are offered Monday to Thursday from September to June. Ninety percent of the slots are income dependent slots, and a family of four is only eligible if they earn less than $ 26,000 per year.
According to the latest census data, 5.3%, 512 of the population of White Pine County belong to the 0-5 age group. The letter stated that the Robinson Mine is the largest private employer in White Pine County. It was reported that 177 children aged 0 to 5 were enrolled in his health insurance plan as of October 7, 2021.
The potential site for the new daycare is currently owned by the White Pine County School District. The proposed project would transform an existing building into a daycare center that can accommodate up to 70 children, aged 0 to 5 years old. Worm said the school district was in favor of a long-term lease.
The daycare would operate Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., year-round.
The Truckee Meadows Boys & Girls Club opened its first location here in White Pine County in June 2017 and has served approximately 50 school members.
Since then, the Club has grown to five sites, housed in local schools serving over 500 members, ranging from 5 to 18 each year.
“I would love to take it a step further, we worked with a local contractor here to manage the budget, the next step we will need to do is get an item,” Worm said.
Councilor Jerilyn Williams-Harper offered to accept the letter of support, Councilor Ernie Flangas seconded and it was approved unanimously.
