Cooperation Station childcare facility in Grand Marais will close this week

WTIP was notified early this morning that the Cooperation Station childcare facility in Grand Marais will be closing at the end of the week.

The Cooperation Station Board of Directors voted to close the childcare facility in Grand Marais effective Friday, Oct. 6. The closure is due to an unexpected lack of available staffing alongside a failure of the parent cooperative model to maintain the administrative resources to keep the program operational, according to information sent to WTIP this morning.

Cooperation Station officials said that since receiving the director’s resignation notice, the parent-run board has worked hard to reach out to parents, staff, and outside support professionals to explore if the daycare can remain open in the short term. After this outreach, it was determined the facility does not have the resources to keep the doors open, according to a statement sent Monday morning.

“This is not a decision that was made lightly, as the board understands very clearly the stress a lack of childcare will cause families,” the statement reads.

The current Cooperation Station Board of Directors, along with support from the local Small Business Development Center and the Childcare Coordinator at Cook County Public Health and Human Services, are committed to working together to find a way for Cooperation Station to open in the future with a more resilient organizational model that better meets the needs of children, families, and staff, according to a press release dated. Oct. 2. Current and past families, along with interested community members, are invited to join this effort by emailing cooperationstationboard@gmail.com.

The closure of the local childcare facility will impact an industry already plagued by staffing shortfalls and a lack of options for childcare in Cook County. WTIP has reported extensively on what many local leaders and community members refer to as a “crisis” in terms of a lack of childcare options in the community. The price of childcare is also a concern for many families in Cook County, according to WTIP reports. 

The closure comes just days after state officials in St. Paul said that due to actions taken by DFL lawmakers during this year’s legislative session, Minnesota won’t fall off the “child care cliff,” and families will continue to have access to reliable child care across the state. While most other states are bracing for a potential loss of thousands of child care programs and millions of child care spots when years of federal COVID child care funding comes to an end on Sept. 30, Minnesota families can be assured of access to stable child care, according to a press release sent to WTIP from the office of Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, a Democrat from the Twin Cities.

Dziedzic said that state approval of more than $316 million this year to bolster the state’s child care system will ensure Minnesota parents can enter the workforce and stay there, businesses will be more productive and maintain a stable workforce, and communities across the state can continue to thrive economically.

“Experts tell us that – just like roads and bridges – our child care system is a piece of infrastructure that gets parents to work. Because of it, families are better off, parents can move into the workforce and stay there, and businesses are more productive,” Dziedzic said. “This year, DFL state legislators heard Minnesotans’ concerns about the harm that the end of federal child care funding would do to parents and businesses, and we acted to safeguard Minnesota’s child care infrastructure  and the families who rely on it. Now, while most states across the country are scrambling to address the steep drop in child care funding – Minnesota’s child care industry remains stable.”

WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs spoke with Grace Grinager, a board member at Cooperation Station, about the closure of the local childcare facility. Audio below.

Joe Friedrichs October 2, 2023