Jacque Andrew and Cherie Cerveny presenting to GCDC Board

The Greene County Early Learning Center is looking at options to expand the facility to take care of more youngsters.

Board President Jacque Andrew and Director Cherie Cerveny recently gave a report to the Greene County Development Corporation Board about their plans. They’ve enlisted Benjamin Design Collaborative in Ames as the architect, who is doing an assessment of the current building at 204 West Madison. Cerveny said they have 20 kids on their waiting list and are currently serving 92, from ages of two weeks to 12-year-olds.

The lack of daycare space goes beyond the early learning center. Cerveny did further research and found that the other full-time daycare facility at Natural Wonders is full and doesn’t have any openings. There are also eight registered in-home daycares in the county, of which there are 15 openings and two non-registered with no openings.

As the early learning center continues to work with the architect firm, Andrew said they will either look to renovate the current facility or construct a new building within the same location. She added the timeline would be about the same for completing either project, which would be by the summer of 2021. Andrew noted they don’t have a price for either project, but since they are a non-profit organization, they will accept donations from the public to help with upcoming construction costs. Payments can be made to the Greene County Early Learning Center and dropped off at their location.