An innovative coworking, childcare model for Leelanau?
By Kendall Rose
Sun contributor
The Aspen House is an initiative that hopes to bring a coworking space with flexible, hourly childcare to Leelanau County in the coming year. I am a small business owner and parent of a 4- and 2-year-old who became inspired to start The Aspen House in the post-pandemic aftermath when finding part-time, affordable childcare became all but impossible. After realizing I needed to focus on this regional issue and feeling like I might have the business background and community connections needed to pull it off, I decided to transition from my current business and launch the fundraising phase of The Aspen House in February with an initial GoFundMe campaign. The primary goal of fundraising is to secure enough funds to sustainably secure a leasehold and to have working capital to make improvements and modifications to a space that are in line with State of Michigan childcare center licensing requirements. While things have been moving swiftly for The Aspen House, I felt the need to do something tangible this summer that could provide some support to parents. My target market is parents of infants and toddlers who are in unique working positions, whether that be part-time employed, self-employed, a remote or hybrid worker, or an entrepreneur or creative who needs flexible care as well as some resources of a coworking space and is exhausted from trying to piecemeal care together while also finding a space to work for the day.
The Work & Play Summer Pop Ups came about after asking myself, what can we do, right now, that won’t cost much money, and can be done in an existing place while we wait to establish our own space. Many folks in our area are familiar with the YMCA’s Child Watch Program which offers 2 hours of complimentary childcare to members while parents utilize the facilities. I have talked extensively with other parents about how much we wish this sort of model could be replicated in other spaces, and designed specifically for the use of coworking. This was actually the original inspiration for The Aspen House. Like, we need to do what the YMCA does but in an environment that isn’t a gym.
I’ve loved the Glen Lake Library ever since becoming a parent and attending the weekly storytimes for infants and toddlers. I met a really wonderful group of parents at these programs and many of us are transplants to Northern Michigan and/or newer residents and really feel a sense of community at this library program. I think the library was really intentionally set up to encourage younger patrons and families to visit, and the design and materials and programming made me feel a bit braver about asking if they’d be open to something like this. Luckily, after a short discussion, Director David Diller was all on board. We are going to pilot the Work & Play Pop Ups with three summer dates, on Mondays from 10 am-12 pm (June 17, July 22, and August 19). Parents will drop off their children in the Program Room, and then have access to the many working areas throughout the library for some quiet time to work, rest, read, whatever. Parents do have to stay on site for a program like this to be able to operate. Our children’s program will be overseen by our Program Leaders and will include lots of time for open free play, outside time in the beautiful garden, a snack, and a story. I have had such incredibly wonderful people reach out to me to be Program Leaders, they all have teaching and early childhood education backgrounds and I’m really proud of the quality they will bring to these programs. These programs are free to the public and interested parents can register their child on our website, www.ouraspenhouse.com. We have space for 12 children ages 6 months to 6 years. I’ve also asked the director of United Way Northwest Region, which oversees the Great Start to Quality Northwest Resource Program to support us by having one of their Quality Improvement Specialists attend our sessions to offer insights and guidance on how we’re doing. I don’t have a background in early childhood care or programming and so it’s really important to me that these pop-ups, while they aren’t subject to any formal restrictions or licensing, are also very well run so we can give parents a good idea of what The Aspen House will be like and the level of organization and quality we hope to achieve.
Click here to view Kendall Rose’s fundraising campaign: GoFundMe.com/f/theaspenhouse.
