GRAND RAPIDS — A planned Coleraine child care center gained Itasca County support with $150,000 in grant funds with a goal to open by summer 2025.
Krista and Rob Sjostrand plan to open Roots and Wings Early Learning Center, a nature-focused child care facility offering 106 slots to Grand Rapids area families. The couple presented Tuesday, March 12, to the Itasca County Board, asking for American Rescue Plan dollars to allow pursuit of additional state grant funding.
Krista Sjostrand has been in education for over 20 years. A kindergarten teacher at West Rapids Elementary School in Grand Rapids, she said when they raised their kids, they relied on grandparents for help. Now that their last child is leaving the nest, the couple felt a calling to provide a child care resource for their community.
"We want it to be a sanctuary rather than an institution, and we just really want kids to be able to explore and learn and grow at their own pace, being supported by adults that truly love nature," she said.
The Sjostrands plan to build the 12,000-square-foot facility on a 30-acre lot east of La Prairie on Highway 2. The building will have five classrooms, a gym and a commercial kitchen, though Rob Sjostrand said they’ll make more use of the 30 acres of nature.
“[We’re] putting in a beautiful building that our plan is to never be in,” he told the County Board. “We want the kids outside learning.”
The American Rescue Plan funds were approved just in time for the Sjostrands to submit a grant application to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. The agency recently opened its largest-ever round of child care grants in the state to support investments in new or expanding child care businesses.
Commissioner John Johnson said child care is a big issue for the county.
“It’s very challenging, so it was very exciting to me to learn that we have investors in the community that want to create 106 more child care slots within a very reasonable driving distance of not just the core of Grand Rapids but also some outlying communities,” he said.
The Sjostrands shared statistics from First Children's Finance and the Northland Foundation showing there are more than 400 child care slots needed in Itasca County. Almost 200 of these are within a 10-mile radius of the selected location.
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