292,077 Reasons = 1

The impact study is done. You can view the figures behind it by visiting the economic impact page. Based on my analysis, using multipliers figured by a USD/Citibank study on daycares in South Dakota in 2005, our little daycare made an impact on the community of $292,077 in the past 12 months. Not a bad investment of two grand, afterall. The thing is, that nearly 300 thousand dollars is just the tip of the impact the daycare makes on our community…

There are other numbers too: 8 jobs, 24 families served, 13 preschoolers, $2.16 annual cost per resident, etc (see all the numbers). There are the businesses in Montrose that benefit directly at the cash register from the daycare, like the General Store and the Irish Pub.

To me, the most important number of all is 1. As in the only one. No other town has recognized how important quality childcare is to a community quite like us. We’re the first one to get our City Council and our Public School District together to solve a critical problem, and to work together to provide a very important service to the community.

Forget about the numbers for a minute. What we have is a great story to tell! Our community leaders–our City and our School–work together to build a better future for Montrose. The City underwrites the modest expenses (roughly 90 bucks a month), the School provides the campus and great facilities. And both win. The City gets a huge return on that $90 a month investment in the form of a $292,077 economic impact. Jobs are created. Families move in or don’t move away because we have great daycare–right on the school campus so it’s safe and convenient. The school wins because teachers have daycare available right next door. Kindergartners (my Hope is one of ‘em) are better prepared, thanks to the preschool. Families from outside Montrose can choose to enroll their kids in daycare and our school at the same spot. And school officials believe kids who attend our daycare are very likely to attend our school–with open enrollment, these are big things to think about.

So, all this great stuff is, well, great. But the biggest thing is still the very fact that our daycare exists the way it does–a cooperative, community-wide effort for a stronger Montrose. It’s not about the numbers or the client-families or the jobs or the City funding–it’s about our community.

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