ASHLAND — Brandy Scheetz was hired as the executive director of Foundations Community Childcare six months ago.
On Thursday evening, she stood centered in the lobby of FCC’s new childcare center in Ashland and spoke to a room full of supporters, donors and city officials.
“I’m just so grateful for all of you who were able to take the vision for Foundations Community Childcare and help support us in a way that has allowed us to make that vision transition into the place and the space that you see today,” she said.
Tours of the completed center, located at 2330 Ford Drive, were offered Thursday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. — which led into the celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony.
Foundations Community Childcare offers several services to students from infants to school-age children, including full-day childcare. Students are served breakfast, lunch and two snacks per day.
Daily sessions are aligned with Ohio’s Early Learning Standards for infants through age 5.
Ashland mayor proud of city’s new childcare center
The center’s literal foundation is rooted deep in Ashland’s history, Scheetz said Thursday.
She said bringing high-quality childcare, which comes at an affordable rate, was a “desperate need” of the community.
Scheetz said the process of creating the center led to connections with business partners, government officials and individual donors.
“It just is a very unique model that has garnered so much attention from other communities who find themselves in the same situation as much of our nation — which is in a childcare crisis,” the executive director said.
“I am honored to be able to be a part of leading this great charge and I am just so looking forward to our first days when we’re able to welcome children into our center,” Scheetz said.
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said Thursday the city is in a position to “truly build the community in which we want to live.”
“I would say no other project, that we’ve recently been a part of a ribbon cutting or ground breaking, says that with an exclamation point than this one,” the mayor said.
“Our local ladies came together and decided this is an issue we need to address. They set out on addressing the issue and as we would always expect, they accomplished the goal and here we are today in this wonderful childcare facility,” Miller said.
Several other speakers were featured during Thursday’s ceremony. FCC Board Chair JoAnn Ford Watson provided a welcome speech.
Support for the new center was shared by State Rep. Melanie Miller, Ashland County Commissioner Denny Bittle and Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce President Amy Daubenspeck, among others.
Support for new Ford Drive facility
The process to create Foundations Community Childcare Center began with the Ashland County Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund Childcare Initiative.
Launched in 2020, that initiative has raised $4.8 million to date. Most of that money — $3.5 million — built the childcare center. The other $1 million has been placed into an endowment to support the center into the future.
Foundations Community Childcare and the Ashland County Community Foundation are fully independent nonprofit organizations.
A slew of businesses and foundations including Home Depot, the Samaritan Hospital Foundation, the Norma Foundation and BCU Electric, among others, helped provide blinds, paving, fencing, cribs, toys and nursing needs, along with funding to build the center.
In total, more than 300 supporters helped contribute to the center’s creation.
Center hosts students from infants to school-age children
The center will be able to host 150 students from infants to school-age children and has a room specifically dedicated to infant care.
According to previous Ashland Source reporting, the FCC Board approved tuition rates for Foundations on Jan. 10. Currently, those tuition rates are as follows:
— Infants (6 weeks-18 months) — $130 for 3 days per week, $210 for 5 days per week
— Toddlers (18 months-30 months) — $125 for 3 days per week, $200 for 5 days per week
— Toddlers (30 months-36 months) — $125 for 3 days per week, $190 for 5 days per week
— Preschool (3-5 year olds) — $130 for 3 days per week, $200 for 5 days per week
— K-5th grade for before or after school care — $30 for 3 days per week, $50 for 5 days per week
— K-5th grade for before and after school care — $60 for 3 days per week, $100 for 5 days per week
— K-5th grade summer childcare — $40 per day, $120 for 3 days per week, $200 for 5 days per week
It also costs $30 to register, but for families registering more than one child, those fees cap out at $50 total.
There are 10-percent discounts for Foundations employees’ children, families enrolling more than one child and for employees of businesses and non-profits who donated to Foundations Community Childcare.
Members of that program, called the Corporate Partnership Program, can receive a 20-percent discount in total if they have more than one child enrolled.
For more information and enrollment, visit the FCC website.
(Below are photos from Thursday’s ribbon cutting ceremony in Ashland, which celebrated the opening of the Foundations Community Childcare Center.)
