About Us
In July of 2021 the Yargus Family Foundation commissioned One Hope United to complete a feasibility study to gain a deeper understanding of the community’s childcare and early childhood education needs in Marshall, Illinois. The study found there are approximately 250 seats needed for all day childcare for children ages six weeks to five years old. With this information we found that Marshall is only meeting the need for childcare at 7.6%. These numbers create major concerns for employers as their workforce faces the challenges of insufficient childcare availability. This impacts both hiring and retention. Businesses can’t succeed without productive employees, and parents can’t maintain their jobs without a safe positive environment for their children.
After lots of meetings and continued discussions, this led to the development of the Marshall Early Learning Center. It is a not for profit organization that was established January 2023. The Marshall Early Learning Center will be overseen by five board members. Board members are Brad Burson, Angel Sanders, Jamie Schneider, Meg Steward and Lindsay Welsh.
This center will accept children from 6 weeks of age to 12 years old. The impact of creating a center that reaches children at such a young age allows the community to make an investment in our children and the future of Marshall. Marshall Early Learning Center will hire a director who will be responsible for recruiting clients, supervising children and staff, all aspects of administration, policy enforcement, program planning and adhering to health and safety codes. The Illinois licensing standards require the director to have 60 semester hours of credit from an accredited college or university with 18 semester hours in courses related directly to childcare and/or child development from birth to age 6. A director plays a very important role in maintaining a safe welcoming environment for the child. Each classroom will have a full-time teacher and additional classroom aides. The teacher and aides will be responsible for creating a comfortable environment within that classroom. This will contribute to the intellectual, social, emotional, physical, creative and cultural growth and development of the children. The teacher and aides will also be responsible for maintaining the daily schedule and ensuring that all children’s personal needs are met. We believe that quality staff, with an educated background, will help provide a safe, learning environment for our young children.
