'End of an era': Lincoln child care center to close location after 55 years

Mar. 8—A legacy of more than 55 years will come to an end this May as a child care center in Lincoln closes its doors at its longtime original location.

After going through a tough battle with financial struggles and staff shortages since the start of the pandemic, Dimensions Education Programs has decided to shut down its First-Plymouth Church location at 2000 D St. on May 23 and operate entirely from its location at 7700 A St.

The decision to close was not an easy one to make, Dimensions Foundation CEO Tara Schroder said. But, in the midst of a nationwide child care crisis, it was a decision the organization felt was necessary.

When the pandemic hit, things at Dimensions, and at child care centers across the country, took a turn. It was harder to maintain funding and recruit a quality staff. So, the board of directors began looking at solutions.

Dimensions owns the A Street building, and pays rent at First-Plymouth, so it eventually came to the decision to switch to the newer location and only operate one center.

"It just got to the point where it wasn't going to be sustainable continuing down this path," Schroder said.

Currently, each location serves approximately 100 children. However, the A Street location has limited space available to take on additional kids, so many families will likely have to find a new child care center.

Additionally, only a portion of the staff will be able to transfer locations, Schroder said. Fewer than 15 of the current 25 teachers at the First-Plymouth site are likely to keep their jobs.

"I mean, it's a horrible feeling," she said. "It's just not an easy feeling to know that you're contributing to this (child care) crisis."

Families will be able to begin applying to transfer to the A Street location soon.

Someday, Schroder said Dimensions hopes to have the means to expand the A Street building to house more children, and it has applied for funding through the Department of Health and Human Services to do so.

"But at this time, we just need to just focus on the one location," she said.

Dimensions has been operating at First-Plymouth since 1968 and has served countless children through the 55 years.

"That's what makes it even harder, you know, the history," Schroder said. "It's truly the end of an era."

However, Dimensions isn't the only Lincoln child care center to close its doors in recent months. Since November, two other Lincoln locations — Little Stars Child Development Center at 4805 S. 16th St. and Christ Academy at 4530 A St. — have closed down, which is more than Lincoln Littles typically sees in an entire year.

"That's extreme," said Suzanne Schneider, assistant director of Lincoln Littles. "I mean, I don't even know that we would even normally have one a year on a regular basis."

Even during the pandemic, only two centers total closed, she said. So to have three close in just four months is scary, Schneider said, and shows just how big of an issue the child care crisis is, and will continue to be, in Lincoln.

"It's that big of a problem that it's impacting even legacy centers, and even centers that are within a church or another institution that can actually provide some support," Schneider said. "They're still having a hard time making that business model work."

In total, an estimated 500 children will be impacted by the three closures.

"It's just gut-wrenching," she said.

Lincoln Littles has been fighting the child care crisis for some time now and is constantly looking for new solutions. At an early childhood summit in January, the organization pointed to a variety of ways to improve the situation, including community partnerships, policy changes and emphasizing recruitment and retention of the early childhood workforce.

"We can't do it alone, and philanthropy can't do it alone. We need the whole community moving in the same direction, including policymakers, including businesses, including the city. It's a collective issue," said Anne Brandt, executive director of Lincoln Littles. "It's up to the community to make sure the kids have what they need."

While Brandt, whose three children once went to Dimensions years ago, said the closure of the center is "disheartening," she hopes it will help spark additional community action to solve the child care crisis.

"This is a big wake-up call. Early childhood affects everybody in the community, whether they think it does or not," she said. "Everybody needs to step up and figure out ways to support our early childhood field."

Reach Jenna Ebbers at 402-473-2657 or jebbers@journalstar.com.

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