Your Support Keeps Our Community Working

Your generosity strengthens the childcare system that families, employers, and children depend on. Every success you see on this page exists because of you.

Only 46 % of families in Blaine County can access licensed childcare.

You Saw the Missing Link, and You Chose to Fix It.

Workforce shortages, closed classrooms, long waitlists, and parents leaving jobs. All of it leads back to childcare.

You recognized that childcare is the infrastructure that keeps families working and our local economy stable. By funding this work, you became the reason providers stay open, children receive early learning, and families remain rooted in Blaine County.

You are the stability behind our entire community.

More Childcare Seats.
More Working Families.
You Made It Happen.

New Childcare Seats

Your support helped open and expand early learning centers, bringing new licensed seats online for families who had nowhere to turn.

Direct Support for Providers

You gave providers the support needed to stay open through coaching, help, operational guidance, and hands-on training.

Centers that Stayed Open Because of You

Your generosity kept classrooms from closing during staffing shortages and operational challenges.

You Helped Every Worker in Blaine County Stay Employed

Childcare is not a poverty issue. It is not a poor planning issue. It affects everyone.

Your support kept the entire workforce standing. Servers, dentists, teachers, accountants, nurses, business owners, grocery checkers, and frontline staff. Even high-earning professionals struggled to find care, and many considered leaving the valley.

Because of you, families across all income levels remained employed, housed, and stable.

  • Dentists, physicians, and business owners kept their practices open because childcare became accessible.

  • Restaurants, retail stores, and schools filled shifts because parents could work with confidence.

  • Businesses saved time and resources because employees could depend on childcare.

Children Are Learning and Thriving Because of You

The first five years shape a lifetime. Your gift ensured that children receive high-quality early learning, whether they are in licensed care or supported at home.

  • Early learning kits for families on waitlists

  • Bilingual parent workshops

  • Guidance for informal caregivers

  • Improved developmental support during the most important early years

You Lifted Up the People Who Care for Our Children

Early educators face low wages, burnout, and turnover. Your support gave them coaching, training, and a sense of community that keeps them in the profession.

  • Educators trained and supported

  • Peer collaboration network strengthened

  • Providers received help navigating quality standards

  • Workforce retention improved

 You Strengthened the Entire Childcare Ecosystem

WRELC is the organization that links providers, schools, healthcare partners, civic leaders, and employers. Donors made that coordination possible.

Your Investment Strengthened the Local Economy

Childcare shortages cost communities billions in lost earnings and productivity. You helped Blaine County avoid those losses by keeping parents employed and businesses running.

Stronger
Community Infrastructure

Inadequate access to childcare costs the U.S. economy $122 billion annually in lost family wages, employer productivity, and tax revenue.

- NADO Report, “National Association of Development Organizations”

Reduced Employer Absenteeism

Absences and employee turnover linked to childcare cost employers up to $3 Billion per year nationally.

- Goldman Sachs, “How Child Care Can Help Small Businesses Grow.”

Greater Stability for Small Businesses

62% of small business owners believe that offering childcare benefits has a positive impact on recruiting and retaining their workers.

- Goldman Sachs, “How Child Care Can Help Small Businesses Grow.”

You have already changed the valley.

Here is what comes next!

Your gift created real progress. With continued support, WRELC can:

  • Bring more childcare seats to the valley

  • Support more providers with hands-on technical assistance

  • Deliver more early learning kits and family resources

  • Keep the backbone role of WRELC strong and stable

  • Advocate for long-term solutions that support the entire valley

Your Support Keeps Childcare Alive in Blaine County

You are the reason families can work, children can learn, and our community stays strong. Continue your impact and help build the future our valley deserves.