S5:E21 - Innovative Community Childcare Ideas with Alexandra & Tyler Rupe

You are listening to the Growing Small Towns Show, a podcast dedicated to supporting you, the person who really cares about the future of your small town. We believe when people get better, everything gets better, and our episodes offer the ideas and actions that prioritize people and small communities. Thank you for listening. We're so glad you're here. Our guests on today's episode are Alex and Tyler Rupp. They are the founding members of Otter Tail Family and Recreational Center and Three Little Otters Childcare nonprofit in Otter Tail, Minnesota. So these two are really quite the pair. I'm very, very excited to introduce you to them. They are in, in a lot of ways to me, a shining example of really what this podcast is all about. Alex reached out to me. She, the story of how she found us is really, really cool. Now they're just a stone's throw from where I live, but we didn't know each other prior to her reaching out. So she actually, in connecting with a neighboring community, talking about just the ideas they have for their town and the things they wanna see happen, this gal said, "I listen to this podcast. You should take a listen." You'd be such a cool guest. And so Alex listened and she decided, well, why not? Why not just reach out directly to me? And so she sent me an email telling me about a nonprofit childcare center and community center that they started in their community. And right away I was like, well, this is certainly worth hearing a bit more. So she and I exchanged some emails, decided she'd be a good fit. And what you're about to hear is, is the result of that. I share all of that because As you listen to this show, if you ever feel like, I think I'd make a really good guest, the worst thing that I could say is, I don't agree. And also, I'm not one to be rude like that. So the chances of me saying that to you are pretty slim. But the best thing that could happen is that we get to have a beautiful conversation highlighting you, your work, your town, your business, whatever the case may be. And what Alex and Tyler, I'm gonna, you'll hear it in my voice, I don't do a lot of prep for our episodes because I actually want to be, have an organic response to the things that they share with me. You're going to hear my awe. You're going to hear my, how impressed I am, what these two have gotten off the ground. And you're going to hear all about the story. But again, they're addressing childcare and then also standing up a community center in a town of 500 people. It's truly impressive. And the biggest lesson in this one is if you have an idea, start talking about it. Tell everybody you know about it. And I just related so much to, to the approach that they took. And this, this, this childcare model is truly, uh, I think it's innovative, it's different, it's unique. And I think there's a lot that you can learn from listening to these two. So, uh, two big things here. Enjoy this episode and don't hesitate to ask for what you need, for what you want to see happen. That's how the best stuff gets done. Okay. Enjoy, friends. Well, hi guys. Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

It's so exciting. I'm so excited to visit with you today.

Yes. Thank you for having us. We're excited.

Appreciate it.

Yeah, you bet. So why don't we kind of start at whatever to you feels like the natural beginning of, of the idea, how it came about, where you guys were, what was what's going on in your lives and that kind of thing, and then we'll just take it from there. Does that sound good?

That sounds perfect.

Yeah, please tell us everything.

So, I mean, kind of how this whole idea started is, uh, we had our, our firstborn. Um, he was at a daycare here in our hometown of Otter Tail, Minnesota. Um, and she was—

can I interrupt real quick, Alex, for the listeners' benefit? How big of a town are we talking about?

What would you say, about 500 people?

I would say close around 500.

Yeah, about 500 people. Yep. Um, and so our daycare provider was closing and so we needed to find a new daycare provider and I probably called around 30 different providers trying to find a spot for our little guy to go.

Um, oh my word. And this, by the way, just to ask again, like to, this was, he was already born.

Yeah, he was like, even before he was born, I think I called at least 20 places.

Wow.

To try to find something. And we secured something before he was even born. And like, he, like we kind of mentioned, he was born right at the beginning of the pandemic. So I had kind of like saved a spot for him. The pandemic hit, that kind of changed things a little bit. Then we got him with a provider and she was open for a while and then ended up deciding to close. So we were like, oh no, we've gotta find a new spot for him. And so I called around to a bunch of different places. Um, we visited a couple different places and it just like wasn't quite the right fit. And so we were like, oh, like what are we gonna do? And we were kind of panicking a little bit. Um, and so Tyler had jokingly said like, we should just start our own daycare. And I was like, haha, yeah, okay.

Are those like famous last words now, Tyler? Yeah. Yeah.

They, they truly are. And we are, I mean, at the time we were both self-employed. We kind of have like an entrepreneurial mindset. So I did—

I asked, can I just out of my own curiosity, what were the two of you doing? What was your work?

So I was an event planner. I was running my own event planning business.

And I do heating and cooling and commercial refrigeration.

So, okay, how long have you had that trade and what's like— because, okay, so I know where Otter Tail— I know where Otter Tail's at. Again, our listeners maybe don't, but you're in Lakes Country.

Yes.

You consider, you would consider Ottersail and Lakes Country, right? So like how big was your service territory?

So our service territory kind of goes anywhere from up basically as far as up to about an hour away.

Okay.

There's just a huge demand in our area and it's really coming down to first come, first serve kind of situation.

Sure. Yep. Yep. Another like plug for the trades. Aye. I mean, I just sounded Canadian. I'm not. I'm not Canadian. I'm just North Dakotan. But like that, it's just— I just always think it's important as we listen to stories from our podcast guests, like, that's— there's a legitimate need for tradespeople. So you just said HVAC? Yep. Is that right? Okay. All right.

Awesome. Yes.

Okay. So then you guys have this situation. And so who— let me just ask, which of the two of you What was it?

It was you, Tyler, that jokingly said, hey, jokingly said, because we saw the demand. So we see the demand out there as far as the need and hearing from other parents and other families on just how scarce it is and just everyone's struggling. Everyone is struggling in our area to try to get childcare and find providers to do so to where you see a lot of people, only one family member can work and one's got to stay at home.

Right.

So it really saw that and try to kind of keep moving forward in that direction, basically.

Right. Okay. So we go from we have a need in our own family. What if we did something about it? Which let me just first say, it's one thing to make a joke about it. We're sitting here with a completely different mindset about it now. I also just want to call out to our listeners that sometimes you might be your own solution. And this happens to be a case where that's proven to be true, which of course, I love. So, okay, so you say, Tyler, hey, maybe we should do something. Then what happened? I mean, what was the next thing that occurred that set all of this in motion?

Yeah, I mean, you had kind of come— I was like, haha, okay. And then 2 days later, Tyler's like, so I think I have this mapped out of how we're going to do this.

And I was like, oh, no. I thought this was a joke. We weren't supposed to actually do this.

Yeah. So I just kind of ran with it on that entrepreneurial side and it was like, you know what, obviously we don't want to make any money off this, so let's go the nonprofit route.

Okay.

Then we started our nonprofit in the beginning of that. That alone was an adventure on its own.

Isn't it though?

My goodness, it is.

I know, I know.

So many loopholes, so many bylaws, laws, everything you have to follow in certain situations. So definitely recommend. We did find a nonprofit lawyer that specializes and proceeded that way.

So that's— well, that's excellent and good for you because it is. It's so much. I can— I could speak actual— I actually know what it's like and it is. It's a lot to figure out. So, so let me just ask you real quick. So because you've, you've more than one business that we're going to be talking about currently, we're just talking about the child care center. Yeah. And so you had this feeling of like, we're not doing this to make money. But now, as you know, having gone through this whole process, what is your charitable purpose as a childcare center? Help me help, like, tie, tie that up for me. Because I'm again, like, I think I bet 90% of the people that listen to this episode, and I mean, this is completely anecdotal, I don't have any research to back this up, you guys, but childcare is a tremendous challenge in just about every small community that I've met, dealt with, talked to. So can you, can you actually dive in a little bit to the decision to go nonprofit? Because I think there may be people that are trying to figure out their own community-level solution to childcare. So if you'd geek out a little bit with me about that choice, I would love to know more about, about why you went that route.

Yeah, the purpose intent was for going nonprofit was just as we are in everybody else's shoes, is struggling financially and economically. Of how everything is going in today's world, right? And just the inflation is just crazy. It's just so basically we are not in it for the money. So it was more or less to be able to provide that space and to be able to kind of get a game plan situation and get the people because we've always heard people want the space to be able to run their own business as far as providing childcare and so forth. So we had like all these connections out there. Just we decided to take the jump.

Okay.

At that point. And then again, we weren't in it for the money because we want to be able to provide the space and let other people be their own business coaches and business ventures as far as, um, them are— them making the money is the best way to put it.

Okay. Back up a little bit too. I mean, yeah, our whole thought was when we're a nonprofit, we're eligible for grants, we're eligible for state funding.

It opens up a lot of funding opportunities, right? Yeah.

So that was— and in our original concept was that it was going to be a community space that had childcare attached to it. And so at one point it was all one building, everything was housed in one space. And then kind of as we really dove into it, we're learning of things that were crazy, like just all the regulations we would've had to meet with a daycare center. The labor issue when we learned we actually started working with First Children's Finance and kind of worked on different like rate studies to figure out kind of the financial modeling of all of this. We learned that providers were only making like $13 an hour. And that for us, like did not sit well with us because we're like, these are people that, you know, are going to be with our kiddos. They, they deserve to be paid more. And where we ran into is if we're going to pay people what we feel they should be paid for their experience and their education, it would be extremely expensive for families to be able to afford care like that. And so that's where we really started thinking, okay, this model might not be the best. What are our other options? And so that's kind of what got us into where we're currently at right now, which is, it's like a pod model. Please, please explain it.

Yes. Please explain it.

Yeah.

How does the model work? Because what— okay, so just to back up, there's a couple of things. Can you drop the name of this agency contact again? What was it called?

First Children's Finance.

First Children's Finance. I've never heard of that. So we'll make sure we link that in the show notes. Is that a Minnesota only organization? I believe—

I don't know if it's just Minnesota. I don't know.

Okay, we'll check that out because again, I always just think like, oh, that's something I've never heard of. I've been doing this for 5 years, and so it's great when we, when we come up with a new one or hear a new one. But the second thing I— you, you just identified, I think what one of the— and I've worked a lot with— we have a, we have a local nonprofit childcare center here in my, in my town, have a lot of in-home providers. The overhead that accompanies running a center, which that's You guys are taking that on, which we'll get to in a second. But you literally just outlined, I think, what is the most troubling fact about childcare in its current model, like kind of the typical way it's run, is that the only way they make any money is in the fees that they charge families. Well, everybody wants quality childcare, but nobody wants to actually pay the astronomical rates that it would take for that facility to cover its overhead and pay people a good wage. And $13 an hour is not a good wage. Not— I mean, I'm not going to say it's not a good wage. It's not. It does not compensate people for the work that they're doing in the childcare field. Right. Like, we— our kids are so precious. We all know that. We all say that. But like, it's like a race to the bottom in terms of rates, right? We want to be And so, um, what the heck is a pod model?

Yes.

When it comes to childcare, like, please enlighten us because I think this is, this is hopefully something a lot of people can learn from.

Yeah. So this is, um, something that's being instituted. It's new kind of in, uh, our area in Minnesota. And basically what it is is you're, we're setting up, uh, two twin homes. Um, and they are zoned residential. Spaces. So that each side of the townhouse is a 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom residential unit. And we worked with, uh, Otter Tail County, who is a really huge supporter of this from the beginning, to make sure that these units would be set up so that providers who are going to be renting these spaces from us to run their daycare businesses out of would still qualify for all the state funding and like programming, like the food program, um, you know, reimbursement for kiddos that come in who are on like county assistance. So all of these units were designed with the primary idea that they need to be residential spaces, um, so that providers can come in there. And they're basically, they're operating under a single, uh, family license, family. Yeah.

Like an in-home, like an in-home license.

Like an in-home. Yes. Yep. They don't have to then run it out of their homes. They can have kind of that separation from work so they can go in. They have this space that's set up as a residential home, but still designed to meet the needs of childcare. But they don't do it out of their own house. They can go run their business and then go back home and not have to commingle the two.

Escape from, you know, escape from work. Actually, you don't feel like you're bringing it home, you know, kind of get that breath of relief. As well.

So, okay, I'm just going to say this. I don't know that I've ever heard this. I've never heard of this.

Yeah, it's definitely newer. So we saw that everyone does the in-home care situation and then basically try to bring it and revolutionize it into a commercial setting. But still, it's a very fine line because it has to be— it's got to be or stay residential. Once you hit the commercial, then you go into the whole child care center and there's so many law— then you go back into all those other regulations.

This is like— I'm actually— I, I love this because it feels, it feels like you might be kind of like— I'm not— the word illegal is not what I'm thinking, but it's like, I feel like you said it like skirts, like you have to really— you— so it's not that you're it's not that you're necessarily saying let's exploit a loophole, but, but you are saying, how do we do this in a way that allows for it? Because I think that in-home license, it, it's almost like I'm thinking about food service, right? When you go from like cottage laws to like, these are the things you can do in your home to when you have a commercial kitchen space and then suddenly the Department of Health gets involved and it gets, it gets complicated real fast. I think I've never heard of a company in this case. And yes, it's a nonprofit, but that doesn't matter because you're still a business, you're a corporation to have the thought to build them as residential units. I just think that's really— who the heck came up with that? Was that like, was that you guys or was that—

so we've heard it from other business models. There's a few other out there and you could probably talk a little bit on that.

Yeah, I would love to know where. Yeah, where, where you heard about it and Well, so we're very fortunate.

We actually kind of in the beginning of this project brought it to the attention of, um, just a, a, a really big philanthropist in our area. Um, and we're like, hey, this is kind of this crazy idea we have. Do you have any feedback of where we can kind of get started? Um, and so they actually kind of connected us with a, a grant writer based out of Fergus Falls. Uh, her name is Tammy Anderson with Acorns to Oak. Um, and so she is actually even contracted with the county for a childcare initiative. Um, our company is, yeah, has a whole childcare initiative, um, right now since our county right now is looking at roughly a shortage of 1,500 childcare spots, uh, just in our—

Oh my, we're in Ottersdale County?

Yes.

Because like, what's the population of Ottersdale County? Fergus Falls is in Ottersdale?

Yeah, it is. Yep, it is. Ottersdale County.

I, and that's a, I mean, obviously that's a slightly bigger population, but still, what are we talking, 20,000 people? People, maybe?

Oh no, a lot more.

Oh, because what is— what is Fergus? What is Fergus?

Fergus Falls.

I know what Fergus Falls is. I think Perham is around 5,000. Very, very—

yeah, that's right. Sure, sure. Okay, well, this again is something we can look up, but I just— I always think it's helpful to people to get some sense of scale, you know what I mean, on, on a county-level initiative. But because to me, I mean, I have 1,800 people in my town, 1,500 open childcare spots, It's just— that's just— it's a lot. That's a big problem.

Even within, I would say, about a 15-minute radius. I mean, we're— those about 400 of those spots are just within a 15-minute radius.

That's insane. That's actually insane. And then, you know, back to what Tyler, you said earlier. So then you have people, one or one parent at a minimum, not participating fully in the workforce. Or having to figure out their own thing that they can somehow do alongside raising children, which is just— I mean, it's just wild. Um, but then like beyond that too, it becomes, uh, an actual recruitment problem. Like, you can't recruit workforce unless you're only looking at recruiting retirees who don't have, you know, school-age or daycare-age children, or, or young people that haven't yet started their families, right? You leave out a huge section of the population if you have that big of a gap in childcare.

Yeah, so going back to the business owner side and the entrepreneur side, just seeing the shortage of the workforce, um, and we're definitely closer to a retirement community in our area, uh, trying to capture those younger families. Well, the biggest issue is they have nowhere to bring their kids, you know, they can't— don't have the childcare there. So a lot of those younger families are leaving back towards the bigger cities, um, to join that workforce because they're able to find that childcare. So we're trying to get that retention back because it's just an amazing place to live.

Um, right. Yeah, I think, I think as, as we talk about that, I always get sad thinking, you know, people sometimes are choosing bigger cities not because it's shiny and cool and like that's where all the cool people go. It's like they have— we make it like these kinds of gaps are big gaps. Childcare is an enormous gap. And if you can go somewhere where you Because, again, going back to how we all feel about it, and I don't have— my kids are all in school now, right? But I remember the relief I felt when my youngest went to kindergarten in the sense that, like, oh, thank God I don't have to fret about that. And we always had consistent childcare, but it always felt dicey, always felt scary. You want them to be safe, you want them to be well cared for, all those things. And when you have options, it really feels, you know, like you get to make the best choice. So, yeah. Okay. All right. So let's see, where were we? You were talking to your nonprofit lawyer. You made this decision. You got, you got some of this guidance to do townhomes.

Okay.

So then what? Then what happened?

Yeah. So then, I mean, with kind of the, the individual who has really been, like I said, he's a really big philanthropist in our community, has grown several businesses just strictly based out of community need. And so he kind of—

just a local person, just a local person. Okay, that's super cool.

Yeah. And so we are very grateful to his expertise and connections within the community. So, you know, we kind of got together with him and really started putting together like, what is this going to realistically look like? And with support of the the county, uh, Tammy, who is our grant writer, um, who had kind of connections with the county, we actually worked with the county to apply for a Minnesota Deed grant. Um, so with the county support, we were actually awarded that grant. It was, uh, $240,000, uh, from a Minnesota Deed grant and a $10,000 match from Otter Tail County to put these childcare, uh, townhomes basically up. Um, and this is kind of a newer initiative. So Morris had done a similar model. Theirs is actually backed by the city, and they did 6 units. We're doing 4, but we've kind of been talking with them down there to kind of see, okay, what worked for you guys? What do you guys wish you had done differently? What do you love that you did? And kind of have been working with them and instituted kind of a similar model, but one that fit the needs of our community. And set that up. So now how it's kind of moving forward is we've, we have this nonprofit that specifically runs what we're calling the Otter Tail Family Center, which are these two townhomes, four individual units that are rented out by family, single family licensed childcare providers. And we keep the cost of rent low with the intent that Providers can then pass on that savings to their families, but are still able, able to make a livable wage. So their rent includes all of their utilities, lawn care, snow removal, and then any additional funds that we make from their rent, we kind of put into like a fund. And that fund is going to provide, you know, maybe quarterly programming for kiddos where we pay to have somebody else come in and do something fun with the kids. Just for— give the kind of the providers a little bit of a break from planning a day and just kind of let the kids do a fun different activity, but then also providing additional support and like training resources to providers so they're not feeling like they're just this lone island. And we're hoping that with this it will reduce provider burnout so they feel like they're more a part of a community and have the support of our nonprofit. We're partnered up with a lot of the different programs that the county does to the point where the, the county is actually providing a service where they have backup licensed daycare providers. So if any of our providers are like, hey, I need to take time off to go to a doctor's appointment or for vacation, we can have this licensed backup provider come in so that they aren't having to close down their childcare to be able to go have a doctor's appointment or take a vacation so that families aren't having to scramble around fake trying to figure out, oh my gosh, what am I going to do with my kids for a week while my provider's on vacation? So we're kind of hoping to really like help providers feel more supported so that they're not getting burnt out so quickly and having to leave the childcare industry.

Okay, you guys, I have, um, I have a lot of, I have a lot of thoughts, um, and I also have a lot of questions. So a couple comments. First of all, like, I, I'm sitting here and I'm imagining what it would feel like for what would typically be an in-home daycare provider, but they're literally sharing a wall with another daycare provider, right? Like you're in a, you're in a shared building. Obviously there's complete separation, but I think what you just alluded to, the idea of feeling like you're a part of a community, I mean, what a, that's a cool natural consequence of the way that you've built this thing. So that's That's really rad. I think like really, really cool. I also was kind of blown away hearing that. But again, I have to keep in mind like 1,500 open childcare spots. That means your county is scrambling, but it also means they're being proactive, which I think is very, very, very cool. Like I— so the biggest question I have, I— so calling out again that idea of having a pool of licensed backup providers like that is I've never heard of anything like that. And it's not like I talk to everybody, you guys, but this, this feels pretty fresh to me, like pretty innovative. So my big question is, where the heck did you find licensed daycare providers? Like, so did you have— I mean, you've got, so you've got 4 separate businesses technically. And as long as they're running under an in-home license, they have a cap, obviously. In each bucket of ages. If anybody knows anything about childcare, right, like licensing requirements, it's like 1 to 1 for this many infants. And you guys, we don't need to get into what those numbers are, but there's very clear caps in place. Did you have people that were raising their hand and saying to somebody, to you, were you hearing this? And they were like, we would run it in a heartbeat. We just don't have the facility. Or where did you find these humans? And what about the backup people? Where are those people and what is going on?

I mean, that's a whole other thing on the back of— yeah, bless their hearts. And the county's, like you said, being super proactive on this.

Yeah, it's amazing, man.

Um, as far as just the hearing the people and the providers, it's just the biggest one was just they wanted the space. They wanted this space to escape from their home, at least have— feel like they're having that entrepreneurial— be able to run their own business. In a separate location other than their home. So they feel like they can actually leave work at work.

Yeah, totally. But were these people that were any of these providers running an in-home program and they just switched to your model because that doesn't open up new spots?

Well, I was going to say, so it's a little bit of both. I mean, so right now we have two brand new providers. Who are currently going through the licensing process. And so that's 2 new providers that we wouldn't have had before. And we found them just by like screaming from the rooftop on social media, like, hey, we're doing this. And, you know, also talking with the county, you know, the county wayfinder and the county licensor and the child care advocates that are, you know, kind of partnered with the county to kind of spread the out. So that's kind of how it got out was a combination of social media and then just working with people in our, in our county who are trying to be really proactive about getting this done.

Yeah.

And kind of what our goal was originally with even getting this set up is we thought, you know, for new providers, we want— a lot of the providers in our area are getting ready to retire. Right. And so we're looking at, we need more people to kind of enter this field. I mean, we know how hard the housing market is right now. And so people might be renting a space where they feel like they, they can't do an in-home daycare.

Oh, sure.

Yeah. And that was exactly like one of the first providers who signed on, um, with us. That was exactly what she said. She was a stay-at-home mom and she's like, I have always wanted to run a daycare facility, but we rent. And so it just wasn't feasible for us to be able to run it out of our home. And this is exactly what I've been praying for. It's just something where I can come and I can run it and I don't have to do it in my home. And so that was kind of like just like a really great like moment for us of like, okay, we're like, we're, we're meeting this need. And that was kind of what we were hearing from, you know, the childcare advocates in the county was we have younger people who want to do it, but they just don't have the space to do it. So that we're like, all right, I think we can. We can make this work with the model that we're planning on moving forward with.

So, so, so also, just to be like completely clear, these people are actually running their own businesses. So are they, are they getting any startup support to like organize their business? Like whether they're doing LLCs or they're doing— is there, is there support that they're getting alongside of all of that?

Yeah, you know, like actually doing it, but that's where that First Children's Finance comes in to play.

Very cool.

They've been amazing and they helped us, like I said, run several different rate studies to kind of basically kind of give like a business in a box model to say like, here is all the numbers we ran so you can get an idea of like, you know, where you should be at for your pricing, like what people can afford based on—

yeah, on data, which is hard to get your hands on if you don't Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So they're a really great, you know, resource for these providers and they sit with them and they talk through like, let's figure out how we're going to do your business. Let's talk about how it's going to be set up. Let's get you connected with, you know, startup resources. They're really great advocates for that. And same with the county. I mean, it really is kind of just kind of a village effort of like between, you know, First Children's Finance and all the resources our community is is, um, or our county is offering of all these kind of people helping build up these new providers and get them to where they need to be, but then still supporting existing providers as well. So we've had a couple different, um, existing providers reach out who are like, hey, I'm interested, I want to apply, what do I got to do? So we've had like a really nice mixture of people who are like, I want to get into the business, and people saying, I can't run it out of my home anymore. This would be amazing, right? I'm offering that, those different resources for both.

Yeah, that's, that's just, this is just really neat. So one of the things you said earlier, Alex, you were talking about, um, that you keep your rates, your facility, like the cost of them to rent your facility low. Um, and I, I just want to make sure we say this out loud, um, because I'm not sure, I don't think it's always widely understood. That a nonprofit is a tax status. It is not a business model because you as the owners of these things are like the founders. You're not— you don't own it. Your nonprofit owns it. But that doesn't mean that you don't have actual costs that need to be covered and that you don't actually have to figure out how the heck to do that. So I just— I just want to say, like, I think— I think it makes a lot of sense that you chose a nonprofit. Status based on everything you've told me. And you have to actually cover the mortgage. Yes, you got a grant, which probably lowered some of your cost of construction. But if anybody's built anything this year, yeah, it is not cheap to build stuff. So is there— can— and you don't have to divulge the details of this, you guys. I'm curious more just from a model perspective. Again, always thinking about There's going to be people listening to this that are going to be very, very intrigued by what you're talking about. And so, you know, are you, um, did you just— what is the subsidy? And the fact that you had this big grant that helped get your construction costs lowered, is there a subsidy that's coming some way monthly from somebody else? Because, um, yeah, I'm assuming it has to be subsidized. That only makes sense. But What does that look like and who's providing it?

Yeah, I mean, so we actually— this entire thing has been privately funded for— okay, um, so I mean, between the grants, um, and then just being able to go out and get, um, like I said, we have a very big philanthropist in the area and he saw just the importance of this and believed in this project and kind of joined in on on the fundraising side of things. Um, so our goal was this, and this project in its entirety, the, the daycare side and the community center side, um, for it to be almost completely funded.

So that, like, yeah, so there's no, there's no costs that you're actually covering other than obviously utilities. Yeah, utilities and what it costs to run the buildings. Okay.

Yeah.

So you got your cost of construction covered.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Good for you.

Right? Yeah. We are very blessed in that to be able to find somebody who is very passionate about wanting to serve our community and, um, you know, who had the ability to be able to put forth money like that.

Um, and even that, I mean, the, the construction company that we're with is also donating a lot of, um, of, of those like front end work of it and their time and volunteering of their time as well, just to take off with this program.

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Well, um, what you guys are— and this is why it's fun. So, you know, Alex, your email to me, it's like, this absolutely should be on the show, like, without question, because you're all— you're also highlighting— and I, I can about imagine people listening to this and being like, I want a philanthropist. Who doesn't? Who doesn't want, like, a benevolent soul that, like, has money and believes in your thing. But I think the bigger point isn't necessarily like, just go find yourself a philanthropist. It'll be fine. It's actually saying, when you have the audacity to stand up and say, hey, we want to do something about this, who wants to be a part of it? Somebody has to raise their hand. Somebody has to stand up and say, this has to happen. This is what we're thinking. And then be very open to partnership and collaboration And again, along with that, I mean, you guys can tell me, but I would guess that along with some of the funding and some of the support came other opinions for how to do things. And that can be a difficult balance, but it's very clear to me, and I would love to hear your opinion on how that all went. But I would guess that you both have proven yourselves to be very open to to that kind of collaboration, which means you do have to be open to letting go of some things maybe, and then deciding which things you want to hold to. So if either of you want to speak to that, please do. But I'm just saying, like, it's incredible what you've created. It is incredible. And you didn't do it on your own. And you're not sitting in front of me suggesting that, right? But I want every person listening to this to understand Yes, that, that's, this is what community engagement looks like.

Exactly. As soon as you have the idea, you know your community, you know, once the community finds out, you get the, you're going to have not everybody excited, but you're going to get as much excited people on board. As more of the word spread, more people jump in feet first to want to participate in this. And it's, it's been a blessing as well. And just meeting all sorts of wonderful people in that process.

Yeah.

In this venture. But also everyone, like you said, everyone has their own opinion. You got to give and take. But also a lot of entrepreneurial mindsets are out there giving you other business models, business ideas on how to pursue it. And so forth. So it's been quite the eye-opener as well and a learning curve.

Well, and to, to Tyler's point too, and, and to yours as well, I mean, we were met with a lot of adversity too in the beginning because people looked at us and they're like, you're young, like you don't, you haven't been in the world long enough to know like what this all is because we were, I mean, it's a very big dream that we had and an expensive dream. And so a lot of people were like, there's no way you're gonna make that happen. And Tyler and I were like, just watch, like, we're going to make this happen some way, shape, or form. And so it really is like, you know, you might come up to people who tell you like, that's an unrealistic dream, that's expensive, that's never going to happen, that's never going to work for our community. But we continued to just push and pursue this idea that we had and kept sharing it with anyone and everyone who is willing to listen to us. And that's where we really found like Tyler said, just the most amazing people who were also like, oh my gosh, yes, we do need this. Let's work on this together. How can we do this? And that's where like that big piece of the collaboration really did come into play. And so that was just, just amazing. It really is. I mean, we started this literally almost 3 years to the date.

Really?

That's—

so it was going to be one of my next questions was like, where are we at in the process?

Yeah, so I mean, it, it, it took us a while, but we just, we never let it go. We just kind of kept pushing towards this goal and finding people who believed in this goal with us. Um, and that's kind of how we got to where we're at today. Yeah.

So, so currently as it stands today, uh, you've got, uh, so one technical, like a building, or you've got two buildings? With 4 units, or you've got one building with 2 units, a second one in the works? What's—

where—

what's the status?

The, the townhomes, um, the childcare townhomes, basically the Otter Tail Family Center, um, they're both in the process of being built with the anticipated date of them being completed by the end of this year. Um, we're gonna— I'm in December. Um, so those are kind of— those are in the works where we're getting all that. And then, uh, the community center side, the goal is for that is to be open in June of 2026.

Okay. So we haven't even touched on that.

We haven't even touched on that. That's a whole nother fun thing.

Let's dovetail into that. So what is, what is the community center side of it?

How?

Because I think you started out, Alex, originally saying like you saw these things as being all under one roof. I think, Tyler, you, you alluded to it too, that real quickly you were like, okay, the licensing requirements that are needed on the childcare side, we need to separate them. And you created two nonprofits. So walk us through kind of the, the community center side of this dream that you two had.

Yeah. As we were growing into the child— because originally this was supposed to be a childcare center. We saw the costs, we saw all just kind of what all until behind that. As we were digging into that, we saw other needs as well as in for the community, having a safe space for the kids, you know, after-school care programs. There's not much in our area, and if there is anything in our area, they're completely booked up. There's no room or no additional space for those other kids to participate in. Um, and then as well as looking at other community members, as far as our seniors, they don't have the space, um, or a place for any really public gatherings that is more for kind of workout activities or activity, just activities in general where you can kind of move around really well. So that's where then we kind of evolved it into more of a community center.

Okay.

And then moving forward from there, we tried to get the city on board with it, and that was a learning curve as well to where eventually where we would start working together, try to continue to move forward and get their support behind it.

Okay.

So it's been to where now we separated again, like Alex was saying, we had to separate back out, realizing we need to keep the two entities separated as far as both creating another nonprofit for the community center and then the original nonprofit for the childcare. But separate that back out.

I have to say real quick, it's just because you loved creating the first nonprofit it so much that you were like, oh my gosh, let's do another one.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, but letting— so now these 4 pods that we have created, um, there's— where this community center is an indoor playground, a full basketball court, to where those kids have that safe space and where they can use, utilize the indoor activities, especially in the winter months as well.

Yeah.

So is it— it's obviously in close proximity. Are they all kind of on the same floor? Yeah, that's cool.

Yeah.

So yeah, all the, all the providers will have access to bring their, their daycare kiddos in there during regular business hours. So if they need to kind of get the kids to run around or even too with it being a public space, that means other daycare groups can commingle. So then providers, and again, that's emphasizing on that community. So they can kind of set up times between each other to go play at the indoor playground and get all their kiddos together to to play in that safe space. And I think too, like what kind of inspired the whole like indoor play space and the gymnasium and all of that is we have a very rambunctious kiddo, uh, who's now 5 and a half. Um, but he is just busy, busy, busy. And we have long winters, you know, when we're here in the Midwest. Um, they get to be sure darn long. And with it being so cold, it was like, where do we take this kid to go do things? Because like it's too cold to be out there. We don't wanna be outside, but we need to get out, but we don't wanna drive an hour or 2 hours to have to go find things to do. So this was kind of our solution of like talking with other parents in the area. They were like, oh my gosh.

Yeah.

We wish we didn't have to drive, you know, an hour to go get the kids to go play indoor somewhere. So that was kind of a, another factor to wanting to create this more of a community center type situation where where people can go in the winter to move their bodies and engage in fellowship and community and have different activities to participate in. Yes.

Okay. So you said that was gonna be done June 2026.

That's the goal. Yeah.

What's the, um, so how, like, walk me through the business model. I get it's still a nonprofit, but again, there's still expenses to cover, right? So what, what is that? What does that look like?

Like, do you have agreements with So as far as the business model for the childcare pods, there is annual lease agreements. Yeah. They're basically lease contracts for them to do their childcare. As far as the community center side, that's going to be structured a lot with memberships.

Yeah.

Okay. Yep. You're doing memberships. That's a great way to do it. Yep.

Yep.

I—

okay. So I mean, again, And like, I think, I think if people listening to this or even me, like, if you're in a community where you have access to a space like what you've just talked about, especially the community center piece of it, it can be really easy to forget or to just actually never have experienced what it would be like to live in a town without that, you know? And like, and like, you guys are like peak pain. And I say pain. And I mean, complete rapture and joy of a 5-something-year-old rambunctious little boy. I mean, that's— there's nothing more evident as to, like, what's the need for an indoor play space than having long, really long winters that can sometimes be up to almost 6 whole months. For sure, there's a late, like, a full month of the year that you can't actually physically go outside. Like, it just— it actually gets too cold, right? Or weather's not great. So I just— I want to commend the two of you again on just the audacity.

I'm sorry, you have to go. I'm on the volunteer fire and rescue, so we just had a fire call. I'm going to have— I'll sneak here.

Tyler, I'm leaving this in the episode, if that's okay, because that's totally fine. More small town if we even try.

I'm gonna run. Hopefully I'll catch the tail end still, so I will be back.

Okay, thank you, Tyler. Thank you for your service, Tyler. Yeah, okay. I noticed him looking down and I was like, oh, I wonder if everything's okay. All right, um, but honestly, like, congrats. First of all, um, thank you for being the kind of person that has the audacity to step out, because the fact that you said we faced a lot of adversity I wish I could say that I'm surprised by that. And, but what I will say is that I think a lot of times people are only speaking from the limitations of whatever it is that they've experienced, or, or they just, they don't or can't see how what you're presenting is ever going to work. And the thing is, it's like, if all we can do is what's already been done, Nothing new will ever happen. And so it's not for the faint of heart trying to do something in a completely different way. So, you know, thank you for being that kind of person and congratulations to you for your success. It's absolutely incredible.

Yeah.

The other thing, though, that I wanted to say was, would you be willing to share with us kind of total cost to build, like projections on the community side and then for your 4 pods?

Yeah, so the 4 pods ended up being around— I think it was $1.2 million to get those 2 townhomes set up. The community center, we're looking at around— I think we're at about $4.5 to $5 million to get that building put up.

So with the community center, well, that was the goal for that to be completely fundraised.

Yeah, yeah. So talking with our, one of our, like our fundraising team, it sounds like we're, we're on track to have most of it covered before opening or kind of have it set up where, you know, we have payments kind of coming in over between 3 to 5 years to kind of help cover the costs of, of the building.

So that's a tremendous amount of money.

Yes.

I mean, we're talking, you know, close to $7 million between the two, right? Yeah. You know, or $6 million between the two. So, okay, so we've got— we had a philanthropist. What did you do? Anything different or unique in terms of fundraising? Like, what was your approach? What did you guys— what did you guys as a committee or as a group do? And I realize, again, you had already kind of said that that there were specific buckets of funding that was specific on the childcare side, which makes a ton of sense to me. Community centers are a lot harder to fund. Now, I'll just— I'll make the pitch for mental health. I don't know if that's a direction you took this in and maybe got some support from a state-level agency or something, but that— this is the stuff everybody wants to know is like, how did you do that?

What—

yeah, what did you do? So anything you're willing to share would be amazing.

Absolutely. Yeah. So the biggest thing with kind of planning fundraising for the community center was really kind of targeting— we're kind of with location-wise where we're at, there are a lot of manufacturing plants. There's a lot of like bigger corporations too that are kind of located around us. And so they saw kind of the, the need for a community space and a childcare space. I mean, we really are even though we are two separate nonprofits, we are fundraising as a team, basically. That's great.

Oh, so smart.

They really, really saw the benefit of having these two different spaces. And so, well, and by the way, that's just structural.

I mean, you only have two nonprofits because of structure. This is one big vision. And I just, again, for everybody listening, business solicitation for this kind of a project makes a ton of sense because you're talking about workforce.

Yes.

And manufacturing needs workforce and they will continue to need workforce. So, okay. So please keep, keep going. So they, they saw the value of it. I love that you have one team. It totally makes sense that you do.

Yes. Yeah. So they've kind of been going out and, and again, like with, you know, with this philanthropist, I mean, he's, he does a lot of business in our area, so he knows some other, you know, really big business players, not even just within our county, but outside of our county who are always looking to, you know, support visions like this. So he had a lot of those connections and going through and talking with these people and just saying, hey, here's this need that we're trying to fill. You know, we kind of put together a presentation of like, here's our story, here's the demand that we're seeing in our area, here's how each of these spaces is going to meet these community needs. And businesses, honestly, they've really showed up. And even like, you know, we're talking like private individuals who are like, yes, we see the need. It might not affect us, but it affects our kids and our grandkids. So how can we, you know, show up so that we can help better support our family for years to come, long after we're gone? And so that really has been huge in, in the fundraising side of things is, you know, targeting businesses, but also kind of talking with these individuals and saying, hey, this is a space that's going to not only support you, you know, as a senior, but it's going to support your kids. It's going to support your grandkids. It's going to support your grandkids' kids because we're setting it up for long-term success to really serve the community for years and years and years. So.

I just— I think this is so cool. Like, I'm listening to this and I'm thinking about the fact that it's one thing when the philanthropist or the person with all the resources and connections and maybe business experience is the one raising their hand and saying, hey, I want to do this thing.

Yeah.

This is a situation. And again, I'm not saying that you and Tyler had no financial capacity, but $6 to $7 million is a heck of a lift. I don't think that you're— I guess, I guess this to me again is just like the ultimate model for how communities can stand up grassroots-led projects because you guys didn't— you didn't say, hey, I've got $6 million, we've got $6 million, we just don't know where we want to put it. You know, should we, should we maybe, maybe we should do a daycare. It was, it was the, so I, I think more people need to be willing to say, hey, we have this idea, like there's this actual need and, and start pounding the pavement. You, you actually said earlier, we just talked to everybody who would listen. I felt that way when I did this project. It, you just, you basically just would be like, hey, you wanna hear something that I'm thinking about doing? You know?

Yep.

And I, I know that sounds sounds crazy, but that's— you just never know what the next conversation is going to lead you to. And in your case, it led you to somebody that had the capacity, and then from there has just that support. It wasn't just financial, it was, you know, all of the expertise and the network and all of those things. And it never would have happened, this never would have happened if you hadn't raised your hands.

No. And, and I will say it has been just amazing to see how our community really has like shown up, you know, when we said, hey, we have this crazy idea. And, you know, I've had people calling me that are like, hey, you know, I might not be able to donate millions of dollars, but I'd be more than happy to donate my time. What can I do to help? Um, can I help with fundraising events? Can I help volunteer in some capacity? What would that look like? And so it really is just like a a full community effort of finding people who are willing to donate their time because they see the value in this project. And that, I mean, is priceless to know that, you know, we have community members who are showing up and helping to raise the funds and, you know, make this operational, um, is huge. So it really is like, it's just kind of like just getting out and talking with people. I mean, I talk with people all day about these crazy— this crazy thing that we're doing. Um, and you know, I'm, I'm lucky my parents own a business in town as well. Um, they own a little coffee shop and, and gift shop. And my parents too are just like, have you heard about— what, what have you heard about this project? Here's what we're doing. Can I show you some of the stuff that we're working on? My daughter is a big part of this project, and my son-in-law, and, and they even share and get the word out too. So I mean There's just like lots of people stepping in and showing up for us and donating their time, which is just equally as amazing because I think it is to have the support of our community stepping up and talking about it and showing up when they can. I mean, I don't know that this project would have been successful, so it really has just every level of community member showing up to make this happen.

So the last thing I want to ask you as we kind of wrap here, because I just— again, I could keep just fawning all over you. It's really, really impressive, Alex. I— and I think the model is so unique. I, I'm very, very excited to share this with our audience because childcare is such a challenge. But so as, as we're, as we're wrapping and, you know, I want you to think about the people that might be listening to this. Um, what, what would you, if you could give just one piece of advice or wisdom based on what you feel like you've learned in the last 3 years to somebody that has an idea that seems too big for their community or too out there for anything that's ever been done before, what would you tell them?

Get out there and talk to people. Tell people about your idea and, and don't get your let down if you have 1 or 5 or 10 people tell you that it's, it's too big and it's too crazy and it won't work in a small area. That's not true. Um, and if you have something that you believe in and you're passionate about, there's no way that it can fail because you will find your people, um, who will continue to show up for you and support you in making this idea big. And, you know, sometimes it might not get to be the whole big idea right away, Um, and it's okay to say we're gonna phase this out and it's gonna, we get to make this happen in, in chunks and in phases. And that's kind of what we've had to do, um, is say like, okay, we're gonna start here and we're gonna, here's our 5-year plan, here's our 10-year plan. But even just getting started, um, on, on a, some sort of scale is amazing. So it really is when you're, when you're passionate about something and you keep keep pushing forward even when people are doubting you. I promise you it will work out in some way, shape, or form, probably better than you would have ever imagined on your own.

There is not a single thing that I would add to that other than just, just keep taking meaningful steps towards it, right? I mean, it just— and, and every conversation and everything leads you to the next thing, and that's something you can't appreciate at all until you start to see that momentum, which very clearly you guys are starting to really see. Um, and wow, it's just, it's incredible. And I, we've got friends that, uh, have cabins over in the Otter Tail area, and so I will definitely be keeping an eye on your projects, like, personally, because I just think it's incredible. Um, but thank you so much, Alex, for reaching out. Please, uh, thank Tyler for us. I know he couldn't hop back in, um, but there again, he's doing his small town thing, which is awesome. So Well done. Congratulations, and thanks so much for joining us on the show.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate being here.

We'll see you soon.

Sounds good. Thank you.