A day care consortium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - how one community helped working parents

Business Horizons, Sept-Oct, 1993 by Tom Ecker

"In Cedar Rapids, we enjoy a great variety of business-education partnerships," says Sue Pearson, long-time volunteer coordinator for the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Community School District. "But the Five Seasons Day Care consortium is truly one of a kind. It is a unique partnership that combines the strengths of all of the partners to provide a vital service to the community."

It all began five years ago when the Cedar Rapids school district entered into a partnership with St. Luke's, one of Cedar Rapids' two hospitals, to establish and manage the community's first corporate day care consortium - the Five Seasons Day Care Center. Although the partnership began with plans for only one day-care site for 20 children, there are now five sites, serving 671 children, with six corporate sponsors, along with the school district and the hospital. Two additional sites will open next fall.

The project began when Stephen Daeschner, the superintendent of schools, and Sam Wallace, the hospital's president, after conducting staff surveys, found that quality day care was a major priority among their employees. Realizing this need existed, and valuing the concept of collaboration as a successful business practice, they decided to explore the establishment of a day care center to serve their employees.

There were two immediate obstacles to overcome: finding a site to house the project and providing the necessary startup costs. The first obstacle was resolved easily because the school district, through reorganization, had space available at Arthur Elementary School. However, neither the district nor the hospital could provide the startup funding.

The solution was to seek a third partner, a corporate sponsor, whose employees would also be able to participate in the program. It was agreed that the sponsor would provide one-time startup funding, the school district would provide the site and staff, and the hospital would provide the health care, meals, bookkeeping services, and public relations.

All the costs of operating the day care, except the initial corporate contribution, would be covered by day-care fees, which would be competitive with other day-care centers in the area. The goal was to become totally self-supporting after the first year and then use profits to provide a sliding-scale fee schedule for families whose incomes would qualify for a subsidized rate.

By the end of the first year, enrollment had grown from 20 to a near-capacity 105 children. Although the initial services included only preschool and day care for children from 18 months to five years of age, other programs, such as summer day camp, "drop-in care," and before-and after-school care, were added because of requests from parents.

In 1990, the school district decided to reopen Grant Elementary School - which had been closed and vacant since 1987 - as the Grant Early Childhood Center. The plan was to expand the very successful Five Seasons Day Care program into a second building and add an infant care program, which would serve children aged six weeks to 18 months.

Immediately, five additional corporate sponsors were sought to provide the one-time startup funding at the Grant site. The five corporations agreed to share in providing the money in exchange for the opportunity to have their employees participate in Five Seasons at either site. The startup money was to be considered a loan - not a contribution. If the day-care program began to operate in the black, the school district and the hospital would begin returning the money to the sponsors.

The Grant School site was large enough to include other school district early childhood programs, including public preschool for state-funded at-risk programs and special education programs for the handicapped. This combination would provide unique opportunities for integrated activities between district programs and Five Seasons. Enrollment at the Grant Early Childhood Center now totals 311.

Five Seasons later entered into a partnership with the city's largest employer, Rockwell Collins, to manage its existing day-care program. The Rockwell site, which serves only the children of Rockwell employees, is licensed for 250 children. Although it is considered a separate operation from the Five Seasons sites, management fees from Rockwell are used to provide additional day-care services at the other centers.

The Five Seasons Day Care program was further expanded in 1991 and 1992 to include extended programs at Johnson and Wilson elementary schools. These programs, which serve any of the elementary-age children from those schools, operate before and after school during the school year and all day during the summer months. At Johnson there is also a preschool day-care program for children that participate in the school's state-funded at-risk program.

Ellen Wrzeski, the school district's executive director of elementary education, has been a driving force in the establishment and growth of the Five Seasons Day Care program. She attributes the success of the venture to "careful planning, good communication, and a clear delineation of roles."